THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as IUML leader M K Muneer has denied that he had told a US official in 2006 that there were divisions in the party over its approach towards the radical National Development Front (NDF), a new cable has been released by whistleblower WikiLeaks, which has been accessed by Express, in which Muneer had reiterated his assessment to the top US official again in 2008 that the NDF has infiltrated not only the IUML, but even the Congress and CPM.If the 2006 cable was marked as unclassified, the cable dated October 7, 2008, sent from US Consulate Chennai has been marked as classified by US official Andrew Sinkin himself. It says that Muneer told him that NDF terrorist training camps were functioning in Wayanad district. But when asked for further details, Muneer refused to elaborate and only asked, “What are they doing there,” the cable says.“Muneer expressed the gravest concern about NDF. He said that NDF members were all ex-SIMI. They claim to be secular, but that is just a ‘front’,” the cable said.Muneer said the NDF has pursued a strategy of appearing to be a social service organisation while having its members infiltrated the state’s political parties, including the IUML, CPM, and Congress. As a result, “nobody wants to investigate what the NDF is really doing”, he reportedly said.The cable has also quoted Muslim moderate scholar and educator Madavoor Hussain who also expressed concern at the NDF’s growing prominence but felt that the government can keep a handle on it.Hussain dismissed the possibility of NDF training camps existing. He said he did not think any group could get away with such activities in India, especially a Muslim organisation, the cable said.However, the official warned the US intelligence agencies to keep an eye on NDF operations and stated Muneer’s comment as very serious.“One thing is abundantly clear: the NDF is worrying a lot of people in Kozhikode. The general consensus — from Hindu and Muslim interlocutors alike — is that NDF has strong links to the banned SIMI. The group is quite secretive, which is not entirely unreasonable given the heavy hand of the Indian police and intelligence services. “The group’s claim to be an apolitical human rights organisation rings hollow in the face of credible allegations from a broad spectrum of people that it engages in targeted political violence.“We are inclined to attribute the most serious allegation, Muneer’s claim that NDF is running terrorist training camps in Wayanad, to his concern that his IUML is losing its grip on Muslim voters in north Kerala. But regardless, the NDF bears watching as a possible terrorist group in the heart of one of India’s increasingly radicalised Muslim enclaves,” the cable says.
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