*Q:* *Reports say Popular Front activists are the main culprits in the hand chopping incident of Prof. Joseph, who was punihed by the government and university for preparing a question paper with derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed. **Is it true? Can you justify it as a morally and religiously correct way of act? Why don't you own the responsibility of the incident?* * * *A:* Popular Front do not justify the above act. We cannot own the responsiblilty simply because we are not responsible for it. Popular Front is a social movement with origin in the Muslim community which strives for human rights and social justice. We stand for demoratic values and rule of law. Hence we will not allow anybdody associated with us taking law in their hands and disaturbing peace and harmony. It is true that the question paper under mention has hurt the sentiments of Muslims and it might have provoked someone to take revenge. If anyone related to our organisation is found locally involved, we will take appropriate disciplinary action and will cooperate with the police to bring them to book.
*Q:* *Do you agree that the hand-chopping incident was an act of terror?* * * *A:* It is a criminal act. What makes an act of terror different from an act of crime. I don't know. If it means criminal acts by organised groups, it has become a routine in Kerala state, particulary between RSS/BJP and the ruling party CPI(M). They have chopped many hands and heads each other. They were investigted by the police as incidents of crime and legal steps followed. If sombody feels that all the previous incidents were simple acts of crime and the only the new incident is an act of terror, let me say, the the problem is with the yardstick. *Q:* *As some political leaders said do you have any agenda to Talibanise Muslim society in Kerala?* * * *A:* I have stated our agenda. Let me repeat, our agenda is equal empowerment of all sections of the socieity which is also fulfillment of a deomocratic value. We demand justice to Muslims, tribals and dalits because they are discrminated, marginalised and exploited. 'To Talibanise' is an insult to our organisation and Muslims in India. To use the term in a derogatory manner is an insult to Taliban itself. They are local people of Afganistan fighting invasion of US and allied forces. They are only checking the cruelties of the foreign forces. Do you term brutal acts or foreign forces as "Americanism" or "Obamaism" ? . But it does'nt mean that we approve every act of Taliban or any other group. We have linked only to our acts and responsible only for our acts. *Q:* *One serious allegation against the Popular Front is that you have al-qaeda and Taleban connections. Some of the documents and CDs, recovered by the police from raids at your activists' residence, reportedly revealed the Taliban model training being given to your cadres. weapons including bombs and guns were also recovered by the police during their raid at your places.* * * *A:* They are cooked up stories. Either some section of police are misleading media or some sections of media are misquoting police. There is strong communal influence in police as well as media in the state of Kerala. These allegations will not stand long. Let them prove it in the court. Again let me add that all these types of recoveries are made by the police from the strong holds of RSS/BJP and CPI(M) in Kannur districts on a regular basis. *Q:* *Moreover, questions are raised about your funding source also.* * * *A:* We are a low budget organisation when compared to others who are levelling allegations against us. We have thousands of cadres from whom we collect monthly subscription. also we openly approach people for funding our activities. We enjoy the generocity of the masses. Read more... http://popularfrontindia.com/pp/story/indo-asian-news-service-ians-interview-popular-front-chairman-em-abdul-rahman -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
