The Central investigative agencies have received information that the Popular Front has adopted the Kashmir model for Islamic radicalization in Kerala. Like in Kashmir, local cable operators have been used to spread terrorist propaganda in Kerala.
Crucial evidence of this has been obtained from interrogations of Popular Front leaders arrested by the NIA and raids conducted on their houses, said reports.
Cable operators in Kashmir were restricted after the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre. Until then, unauthorized transmission of Pak TV channels was carried out through Kashmir’s cable channel Shyam Khala. The speeches of the leaders of terrorist organizations including Lashkar-e-Taiba reached the Muslim youth of Kashmir through the local cable Shringala.
Similarly in the Malabar region, the Popular Front used the local cable network to broadcast banned foreign channel programs and lectures by militant leaders. For this, Popular Front workers became local cable operators in many places. Local cable operators’ associations are also controlled by the Popular Front.
Popular Front activists also worked as reporters for local cable channels. The Intelligence Bureau has also received information that the Popular Front used them to monitor the RSS BJP leaders and gather information.
The online segment of a mainstream media in Kerala was also misused by the Popular Front to propagate terrorist ideology. There has also been evidence of influencing the news program managers in mainstream channels to inject news of interest to the Popular Front by paying them higher than the slot rate.
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