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Govt says Simi thrived, spread despite ban

Govt says Simi thrived, spread despite ban

Author: Tanu Sharma
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: July 31, 2006
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/9578.html

The Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi), which was banned for the first time in 2001, has managed to keep its network alive through clandestine activities and is regrouping cadres and reviving the organisation. Its tentacles have spread across the globe from Bangladesh to Riyadh and Chicago.

This startling disclosure has come from none other than the Government of India in its written arguments before the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal, which is examining the legality of the ban on the outfit. Delhi HC Judge Justice BN Chaturvedi heads the tribunal.

''Inputs received from intelligence agencies indicate that despite the ban on 26 September 2003, SIMI has managed to keep its network alive through clandestine activities and is regrouping and reviving the organisation through pseudonymous fronts/organisations, clandestine meetings and circulation of leaflets, posters and magazines, intra-organisational pan- Islamic networking, etc,'' the Centre submitted.

The outfit, with its avowed objective to replace Indian nationalism with international Islamic order, has been receiving funds from Riyadh-based World Assembly of Muslim Youth and maintains close links with the International Islamic Federation of Students Organisations of Kuwait. SIMI has also been morally and financially supported by the Chicago-based Consultative Committee of Indian Muslims. Besides, the banned outfit has also collected a huge amount during the month of Ramzan from various parts of the country, the Centre says, quoting Home Ministry officials who have deposed before the tribunal.

Despite the ban, SIMI, the government says, has established ''close pan-Islamic linkages with LeT cadres in carrying out militant activities in the country. It also has links with the fundamentalist Jamait-e-Islami of Bangladesh, which with its students wing Islamic Chatra Shivir ''regularly attend meetings of SIMI held in West Bengal'', says the Centre.

Intelligence inputs suggest SIMI members are supporting Al-umma in Tamil Nadu, the Ganzim-Islahal-Muslameen and LeT ''and advocating secession of Kashmir to Pakistan.''

''They have a strong support from Darsga-e-Jehad-e-Shahadat of Hyderabad. Most of their members are also members of a new organisation called Tehreek Tehfeen-e-Shaire-Islamia'', the Centre has disclosed. SIMI cadres are still active in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala, it says and adds that in Ikhwan conferences, its leaders took militant postures, ''used derogatory language for deities of other religions and exhorted Muslims for jehad.''

SIMI was first banned and declared unlawful in 2001, then in 2003 and for a third time in 2006.

tanu.sharma@expressindia.com


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