M A I N   N E W S

Kerala outfit under scanner

Thiruvananthapuram, August 21
Kerala-based Popular Front of India has come under the scanner of intelligence agencies for its suspected role in spreading inflammatory SMSs and MMSs following Assam violence, that triggered exodus of northeastern people from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Taking note of reports in this regard in local media, state Home Minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan has asked ADGP (Intelligence) to cross-check the matter with Central authorities.

"We have taken note of the reports. The intelligence head of state police has been asked to cross-check the matter with Central agencies to find out the facts," Radhakrishnan told PTI.

He said so far there had been no reported incident of panic fleeing by migrant North Easterners from Kerala as had happened in some other states.

Only an isolated case of some unidentified persons intimidating migrant workers in a hollow-brick unit in Malappuram district had been reported and cases had been registered against 12 persons, he said. Rejecting reports that it was involved in creating scare among the labourers from North East states, PFI general secretary Abdul Hameed said the organisation was ready to face any inquiry.

"This is not for the first time that PFI is being targetted. In all earlier cases, PFI has proved the allegations wrong and come out clean. But, unfortunately, our innocence never used to get published in media," Hameed said. — PTI

web pages blocked: pilot
Majid Jahangir/TNS

Srinagar, August 21
Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot today said that India had blocked certain web pages that were allegedly been used by Pakistan-based troublemakers to spread panic in the country. “We had requested many social networking websites to look into the content that they feel should be removed. The response that we have received from them is not satisfactory. After the orders of Home Ministry, we have blocked many web pages,” Pilot said in Srinagar.