After Centre bans PFI, Friday prayers peacefully offered in UP under watchful eyes

Varanasi/Lucknow/Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 30 (ANI): After the ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI) the Friday prayers passed off peacefully amid heavy police presence in different parts of Uttar Pradesh.
The government had made elaborate security arrangements after the Centre banned PFI.
There is a necessary deployment of police personnel amid festivals like Navratri and Durga Puja and in view of the same, there is a high alert in the entire Uttar Pradesh.
Prayers were held peacefully in the state and no incident of chaos took place.
The namazis at Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, said, “We have nothing to do with PFI, if they make a mistake, they should be punished. There are many festivals coming ahead, so there should not be any kind of chaos.”
The Uttar Pradesh Police sounded an alert to all district police chiefs to intensify vigil around different mosques after the ban on PFI.
Dr S Chinappa, DCP West, Lucknow, told ANI, “Friday prayers were safely done in Lucknow amid the alert. The security has been beefed up for the upcoming festivals and today we are near Teele wali masjid, where Jumma prayers were completed safely.”
Meanwhile, Kanpur Police monitored sensitive areas due to Jumma prayers on northern roads and senior police officers undertook patrolling to avoid any untoward incident.
Earlier this week, the Centre imposed a ban on the radical outfit and its affiliates for five years for having “terror links”. Along with PFI, the ban has been imposed on Rehab India Foundation, Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organization, National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation.
A Home Ministry notification mentioned that the ban has been imposed against PFI and its fronts for “indulging in unlawful activities, which are prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty and security of the country and have the potential of disturbing public peace and communal harmony of the country and supporting militancy in the country”.
Following the ban, the PFI Kerala state general secretary of the outfit Abdul Sattar said the organisation has been dissolved. “All PFI members and the public are informed that the PFI has been dissolved. MHA has issued a notification banning PFI. As law-abiding citizens of our great country, the organization accepts the decision,” he said.
Sattar, who had been allegedly absconding, has been arrested and handed over to the NIA by Kerala Police. (ANI)