Author: TNN
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 29, 2008
Intelligence officials says that Tamil-Nadu
based Al Umma, which was behind the 1998 Coimbatore blasts, also known to
have a presence in Bangalore, shares the same ideology, purpose and motive
like the SIMI.
The serial blasts in UP courts were, however,
in retaliation against the assault on arrested JeM suspects by some lawyers.
This raised suspicion that IM was nothing but a loose coalition of LeT and
JeM that intimidated the legal fraternity for the lawyers' unwillingness to
represent terror suspects.
However, when serial blasts rocked Jaipur,
the sheer scale of operation hinted at the involvement of local elements that
could only be provided by radical outfits like SIMI which has a presence in
many states, including Rajasthan. In the past, security agencies have found
SIMI cadres working along with terror outfits like LeT, JeM and HuJI.
As in the case of Jaipur blasts, where the
role of HuJI was suspected with local support of SIMI, the same could be true
for Ahmedabad. But in both Jaipur and Ahmedabad, the serial blasts indicated
that the terrorists were local elements who knew the place and easily mingled
with the crowd after execution of the deadly act.
"This is being done in a bid to Indianise
jihad," said Raman who sees HuJI opening a permanent base in India with
recruits from the Muslim community which could be projected in future as a
purely Indian organisation with no Pakistani or Bangladeshi involvement. This
is largely a policy adopted of late by the ISI.
