PFI Talibans target Muslims who comes in their way

Islamist PFI back with its Talibanism in Kerala?
PNS | Kochi

Suspected operatives of Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI, formerly NDF) on Tuesday carried out a Taliban-model attack on a local mosque committee member in Paravur, some 30 km northwest of Kochi city, in an act that reminded the chopping off of the right hand of a college professor in July, 2010 by the outfit.

The Islamists attacked Nasser Vaniyakkad (42), a hotelier, with swords and iron rods early Tuesday morning when he was returning home on his two-wheeler after performing Namaz at the local mosque. He suffered several hack injuries in the legs, hands and face. Doctors were doubtful of effectively stitching back his partly severed right leg.

According to Nasser, he was attacked by a gang of seven bike-mounted men in masks. It was Nasser himself who had informed the police of the attack after the assailants left. The attack was said to be an act of revenge as his efforts had contributed to the PFI’s loss of dominance in the mosque committee. He told the police that he could identify two gang members.

“It was my brother who had led the campaign against the NDF in the committee,” said Basheer, Nasser’s brother and the mosque committee president. “They had hacked him brutally. This cannot be allowed anymore,” he said. Nasser’s knee-cap had also been damaged, according to hospital sources.

Local people of Vaniyakkad, Nasser’s village, said the immediate provocation for the attack was that he had informed the family of a girl about her love affair with a PFI activist. They said operatives of the outfit had in the recent days warned Nasser.

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