Author: Olga Tellis
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: June 2, 2006
Maharashtra has been under the shadow of the
Students' Islamic Movement of India (Simi) ever since the 1980s, but this
shadow has now become more menacing. It is a well-known fact that the targets
of militant groups like Simi and the Kafila Shakt Jaan are Hindu fundamentalist
groups like the RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
The RSS is a natural target because it is
the largest and most influential group. In Simi, recruits are allowed to remain
only up to the age of 30 years. After that they go to the Kafila Shakt Jaan.
Earlier, those above 30, known as ansars, went to the Jamaat-e-Islam, but
when the latter found out that Simi members followed the militant path, they
denounced them in 1991.
"The Kafila Shakt Jaan, started in 1992,
is a hardcore terrorist outfit," according to sources. Simi is a banned
outfit but it continues to recruit members and has active pockets in predominantly
Muslim areas in Malegaon, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Akola and Mumbai.
Earlier, Maharashtra College was said to be
a Simi hub. They used to be sent to Pakistan for training and many of them
in the 1980s received training at Osama bin Laden camps, the sources said.
Many of them were, and continue to be, on
the payroll of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Simi had, in the 1990s, provided the manpower
to the Pakistan-trained Canada-based Manjeet Singh, alias Lal Singh, alias
Iqbal Ahmed, currently facing a life imprisonment term in Gujarat.
Recently, most of the terrorists arrested
in Aurangabad, Malegaon and Nashik were Simi men. The police recovered 16
AK-47 rifles, 62 magazines, 3,200 bullets, 43 kg of RDX and 50 hand grenades
from Aurangabad, Nashik and Malegaon after three persons were arrested by
the ATS from Aurangabad on May 9.
The sources said that it is very difficult
for the police to control these groups as the police don't have a good underworld
network.
The questions that remain unanswered in this
grim situation are:
What is the route though which these arms
are coming in?
How do they come from Pakistan into India
and reach Nagpur, Aurangabad and Malegaon?
Who are the persons responsible for bringing
the arms and providing people with accommodation and finance? Where are their
hideouts?
In the foiled attack on the RSS headquarters,
the militants have been killed. But who is the brain behind the planning?
