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National Development Front

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File:Kerala2006 (18).JPG
NDF poster in Alappuzha, calling for solidarity with Palestine

The National Development Front (NDF) in an organization in Kerala, India, established in 1993. It claims to focus on the "socio-enonomical issues of minorities giving a focus to Kerala Muslims". The organization is one of the organizations that took over the political vacuum when the Islamic Sevak Sangh (ISS) of Abdul Nasser Madani was banned in 1993 for being a cover for terrorism.

NDF claims to be a human rights organization, and claims to seek to build alliances with non-Muslim sections. Its slogan is Swathantryam - Neethi - Surakrsha which means Freedom, Justice and Security. In 1997 it stood behind the formation of the Confederation of Human Rights Organizations, founded in Kozhikode. However, they stand accused by judicial inquiries, the Central Bureau of Investigation and various political parties in India of fomenting Islamic Fundamentalism in Kerala and being involved in the Marad massacre.

Declared ideologies and positions

The NDF, in their website, claims to be a "Human Rights Organization" that is actively working for the emancipation of minorities in Kerala such as Dalits, Tribals and Muslims. According to them, their main focus is to ensure the rights of all the citizens with a focus on "oppressed and minorities" (sic).

They further try to propitiate their activities by alleging that the main cause for the formation of the NDF organization was the "threat and alienation that theBabri Mosque demolition caused among Kerala's Muslims". They also claim to "give guidance to all such outfits and fight for social justice"

NDF claims to work very closely with all Muslim organizations and co-operate in all the movements for the empowerment of Muslims.

NDF has recently decided to bring what they claim are "like minded organizations" together for expanding their activities "for the oppressed and the minorities to the rest of the country"

Criticism

The NDF is largely seen as a communal outfit and members of the organization have been implicated in violent incidents like the 2002 Marad massacre.The Central Bureau of Investigation report found that "activists of IUML and NDF, a Muslim outfit, were actively involved in the massacre" NDF has also been blamed for inciting violence against moderate Muslims in Kerala, in opposition to liberal and reformist Islamic movements and individuals. and that "involvement of fundamentalists and terrorists" was behind the incident.

Two members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) were murdered by the NDF in early 2004 and there have been many reports of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers and Hindus in Kerala being hacked to death by NDF death squads.

The BJP have put forward allegations that NDF maintains links with Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence. The Indian National Congress (who are politically opposed to the BJP) has also raised doubts about the true nature of their activities. On October 31, 2006, the Congress launched a campaign against terrorism in Malappuram district in Kerala, labeling NDF as an organization that promotes Islamic terrorism.. In addition, the State secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, has said that NDF was involved in the Marad massacre and referred to them as a "terrorist outfit" that executed a "planned mass murder".

The NDF has been heavily criticized for recruiting the largely moderate and progressive Kerala Muslims into extremist ideologies. The organization, while superficially a "Human Rights Group", has attracted numerous Islamic Fundamentalists to their ranks, and, as such, stand compared to several more well-known militant Islamist groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and others. Haifa University political scientist David Bukay lists the NDF as a "fundamentalist and subversive group"

NDF Freedom Parade

NDF Freedom Parade 2006

NDF has conducted Freedom Parades with the sloganBe the sentinel of freedom. in major cities of Kerala in 2004, 2005 , and in 2006. The parades have become one of the major activities on the Indian Independence Day .


See also

References

  1. A. Vinod Kumar, Is Kerala Emerging as India's New Terror Hub?, IDSA Strategic Comments (August 2006), Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses accessed at Dec 29, 2006
  2. NDF in ties with Confederation of Human Rights Organisations
  3. NDF - What is it?
  4. NDF for Social Justice
  5. NDF and Muslim Personal law board
  6. NDF to widen organizational set-up
  7. R. Krishnakumar, Marad shocks, Frontline (magazine), Volume 23, Issue 20, Oct. 07-20, 2006 accessed at Dec 29, 2006
  8. ^ Marad massacre: Kerala govt for CBI probe Times of India - September 27, 2006
  9. Communalism Combat March 1999
  10. Marad: Pinarayi pinpoints NDF involvement The Hindu - July 17, 2004
  11. The Bharatiya Janata Party seeks inquiry into NDF-ISI links The Hindu - May 20, 2005
  12. Congress' anti-terrorism campaign in Malappuram,The Hindu
  13. UDF Slept As Marad Burned, by Aboo Backer, CPI(M) weekly
  14. Ahamkaari (2003). "4". Will I Be Killed?: (for Writing the Following Contents...) P331. iUniverse. ISBN 0595275915. Kerala is witnessing more and more recruits into this extremist Islamic ideology". When the names are the alarming "Lashkar-e-Toiba" and "Hizbul Mujahiddeen" in the "uneducated North", it is very humorously garbed as "National Development Front" in the south"
  15. Bukay, David (2004). Muhammad's Monsters: A Comprehensive Guide to Radical Islam for Western Audiences P177-178. New Leaf Press. ISBN 0892215763. Evidence of these processes is mounting throughout India, and is reflected in the number of fundamentalist and subversive groups that exist, and the geographical spread of their activities. The most prominent of these include the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, the All India Milli Council, All India Jihad Committee, The People's Democratic Party, Muslim United Front, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham, National Development Front, Students Islamic Movement of India, among others
  16. Be the sentinel of freedom
  17. Freedom Parade 2005
  18. NDF Freedom Parade Report from The Hindu
  19. Major Indian Independence Day Activities In Kerala

External links

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