SIMI, the first among terror suspects, still active through 50 fronts

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

09 Aug 2008, NewAgeIslam.Com

SIMI, the first among terror suspects, still active through 50 fronts

By Vishwa Mohan ,TNN  8 Aug 2008, 0340 hrs IST,   NEW DELHI: Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is one of the 34 banned outfits in the country but around 50 of its fronts, which work as cover for the terrorist group, are carrying out their business as usual.   Although the government has identified four of these fronts which are working at an all-India level for SIMI, the home ministry has failed to put them in the list of banned organisations. The four fronts are Tahreek-e-Ehyaa-e-Ummat (TEU), Tehreek-Talaba-e-Arabia (TTA), Tehrik Tahaffuz-e-Sha'aire Islam (TTSI) and Wahadat-e-Islami.   None of these fronts, however, finds place in the official list of banned outfits carrying 34 names — updation of which was last made by the home ministry in May.   But these are not the only four outfits which have been working for SIMI in the country. There are as many as 46 other organisations in eight states which "are being used for carrying out its (SIMI) activities including collection of funds, circulation of literature and regrouping of cadres".   Twenty-three out of these 46 outfits are active in Kerala followed by eight in Maharashtra, seven in West Bengal, three in Bihar, two in Uttar Pradesh and one each in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi. Though some of them are put under the list of banned outfits by the respective states, most of these organisations have been working without any restrictions.   "State police and intelligence agencies have, however, been keeping close tabs on these outfits. But one has to have concrete evidence to ban them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967", said a senior home ministry official.   The identity of these outfits were disclosed by the home ministry in its background note submitted before the Special Tribunal headed by Delhi High Court judge Gita Mittal who did not uphold the notification of the goverment extending the ban on SIMI on Tuesday. These details were also submitted to the Supreme Court the next day when the home ministry successfully challenged the tribunal's order and got a stay.   The background note has also given details of different activities of SIMI — fund raising, instigating Muslims for riots and circulation of provocative CDs/cassettes. It mentioned how the outfit's activists have been travelling far and wide to collect funds besides getting huge funds from well-wishers in Arab countries.   The ban has, however, not deterred its members to stop recruiting and strengthening its cadre. Currently, a number of educated persons including technocrats, chartered accountants and doctors are associated with the activities of SIMI clandestinely.   http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/SIMI_still_active_through_50_fronts/articleshow/3339635.cms     **************   SIMI, the first among terror suspects 7 Aug 2008, 0900 hrs IST,TNN   Every time a bomb goes off in some part of the country, the needle of suspicion invariably turns to Students Islamic Movement of India, with the police making tall claims about the Muslim outfit's terror network and its links with Pakistan's ISI. ( See Ninan's cartoons )   In the past couple of years, as the number of people falling to deadly bombs rose sharply across the country, the crackdown on SIMI intensified as well, even as the group claimed that it had nothing to do with the attacks. On Tuesday, as a Delhi High Court Tribunal gave a clean chit to the Islamic group, it seemed that the allegations against SIMI may not be true. But a hard look at the banned group by TOI reporters reveals that the tribunal's decision notwithstanding, SIMI fingerprints have cropped up in terror attacks countrywide.   As India tries to recover from the attacks of Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad in the past three months, security agencies are again keeping a close watch on the cadre of the outfit, which was put under ban for the first time in 2001. Although the movement has been in the news for the past 10 years for all the wrong reasons, it gained notoriety in 2006 when at least 13 SIMI members were arrested for their role in the 7/11 train blasts in Mumbai. Two months later, four bombs, planted on cycles, rocked the textile town of Malegaon in Maharashtra. Again, SIMI members were arrested for their alleged role. At least 33 SIMI members are lodged in Maharashtra prisons, facing charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.   In neighbouring Karnataka, the police have busted a network of SIMI activists and seized explosives from them. The arrested persons have been accused of having links with terror outfits and planning strikes in the state. Most of the arrested SIMI activists are well-educated. Though none of the terror attacks in the state has been attributed to SIMI so far, the arrested activists have been accused of providing logistics support for the attacks on vital places. In fact, to test the explosives, they had carried out trial blasts near a village in Belgaum district.   They had also organised a training camp in the jungles near Hubli.   West Bengal has also been on SIMI's radar for some time. In 2002, Hasib Raja, a SIMI activist, was arrested with RDX. Investigations revealed that Raja's intention was to blow up the Howrah Bridge. In 2003, five people, including two SIMI activists, were arrested while trying to remove clips of railway slippers on the Kumardubi-Barakar line.   Though the outfit has an underground network spread across the country, SIMI has become very strong in central India from where it has been spreading its tentacles to other regions. The presence of highly-motivated leaders like Safdar Nagori, who was arrested in Indore recently, has made this part of the country the nerve-centre of SIMI's planning and strategy. Dr Tanveer, one of the accused in the Mumbai train blasts, spent several years in Nagpur studying Unani medicine near Mominpura. At least six SIMI activists were arrested in Nagpur in connection with Mumbai bombings.   Similar is the story in other states like UP, Assam, Kerala, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where SIMI activists have been arrested with guns, explosives and blueprints of their terror plans.   But, despite the crackdown on its cadre and a watch on its activities, SIMI has managed to survive and carry on its activities. In Kerala, SIMI has managed to survive under the cover of a slew of Islamic outfits. Intelligence agencies suspect that some of its operatives may have found way into mainstream political parties as well.   The intelligence agencies may be convinced about SIMI's role in the terror network, but most of activists cooling their heels in jails face cases related to distributing fundamentalist literature. Due to the lack of concrete evidences against the activists, the cases have been moving slowly. For the government, which has been talking of crushing the terror network, it is a cause of concern.   Guilty By Association?   How It Began?   Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi, now a professor of mass communication at Western Illinois University in the US, founded the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) at Aligarh in April 1977, with a mission to 'liberate India' from western cultural influence and convert it into an Islamic society   What Is Its Ideology?   Influenced by the Deoband school of thought, SIMI aims to counter in India what it believes is, the increasing moral degeneration, sexual anarchy and 'insensitiveness' as a result of following the 'decadent' west   How It Became Controversial?   SIMI originally emerged as a student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami. But the alliance was shortlived as Jamat disapproved of SIMI's extremist line.   SIMI was banned first on September 27, 2001, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967. In July 2006, the Centre told the Unlawful Activities   (Prevention) Tribunal that contrary to notion that SIMI's activities had declined following its ban, the organization had stepped up its subversive activities and was involved in almost all major explosions, communal violence and circulation of inflammatory material across the country   TRYST WITH TERROR TAG   May 14, 2003   Mumbai Police arrest three people and foil an alleged SIMI-LeT plan to trigger blasts in Mumbai and Kerala   May 26, 2003   Police arrest two SIMI activists in the Ghatkopar bomb blast case in Mumbai   Jul 21, 2003   A POTA court in Delhi sentences two SIMI activists for their membership of the banned group   Sep 12, 2003   Police arrest two SIMI activists for removing railway sleeper clips in West Bengal   Nov 11, 2003   A Delhi court acquits SIMI president Shahid Badar Falah in a sedition case   Nov 1, 2004   Police arrest an alleged SIMI activist, Maulana Nasiruddin, at Hyderabad in connection with former Gujarat minister Haren Pandya's murder.   Jun 11, 2005   POTA court acquits eight alleged SIMI activists accused in the Ghatkopar blast case   Jul 11, 2005   Police arrest six alleged SIMI activists, including four of a family, at Faizabad, UP, in connection with an attack on the Babri Masjid complex in Ayodhya   Jul 1, 2006   UP government withdraws a treason case against SIMI president Shahid Badr Falahi   Jul 6, 2006   Supreme Court rejects a SIMI plea seeking revocation of a ban on it   Jul 13, 2006   Police arrest around 200 SIMI activists in Mumbai after the deadly train bombings on 7/11   Jul 21, 2006   Police arrest three alleged SIMI activists in connection with 7/11 Mumbai blasts   Oct 30, 2006   Police arrest Noor-ul-Hooda, a SIMI activist, for his alleged involvement in Malegaon blasts   Feb 15, 2007   Supreme Court describes SIMI as a secessionist movement   Mar 27, 2008   Madhya Pradesh STF arrests SIMI chief Safdar Nagori along with 11 other alleged activists at Indore   Aug 5, 2008   A Selhi High Court Tribunal lifts ban on SIMI   Aug 6, 2008   Supreme Court stays ban on SIMI   (With inputs from Mumbai, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kolkata, Nagpur, Guwahati, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi)    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3336082,flstry-1.cms