New Sep 22 (IANS): The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) deplored the Wednesday raids on PFI offices and crackdown on its leadership and offices by the NIA and ED.

In a statement to the media, JIH President Sadaatullah Hussaini said: "Jamaat-e-Islami Hind is highly concerned over the raids conducted by the NIA and ED on the Popular Front of India (PFI) offices and their leaders. Agencies like NIA can investigate people against whom they have clear evidence, but such actions should appear unbiased and free from political motivation."

Asking if the NIA and ED had followed standard operating procedure in the raids, he said that the way the NIA and the ED have made simultaneous raids across the country, targeting PFI, raises many questions for our society to answer.

"The operation becomes suspicious, particularly against the backdrop of several actions by Central government agencies against opposition groups and leaders in the last few years through various state agencies like NIA, ED, CBI, and the police. This hurts our democratic ethos and endangers the rights of citizens to criticise and appraise those in power.

"The action becomes questionable also because the action is not being taken against several groups openly indulging in hate-mongering and violence. Hence, these raids raise uncomfortable questions for society," he said.

Hussaini asked if the raids meant to "appease a particular constituency", and "if that is the case, then is it not a kind of appeasement and vote-bank politics?"

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind deplores all such raids and actions in which people are subject to harassment in an unjust manner, irrespective of whether they belong to the opposition, the minorities, or any social class of society, he added.

"If the state agencies are taking coercive action against them in a biased manner without proof and justification, then it is not healthy for a vibrant and just society. Jamaat-e-Islami Hind never endorses hate and violence and condemns it unequivocally."