Author: Premendra Agrawal
Publication:
Date:
At a time when Mumbai police are on the lookout
for the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) members for their suspected
role in 7/11 serial blasts, it is panic to know that Congress and Left parties
including Sonia Gandhi and Ambika Soni opposed NDA to ban on SIMI. Now the
Mulayam Singh Yadav government is contemplating withdrawing the cases against
banned SIMI members and setting them free. We wonder if they take any action
at all even if India gets nuked.
All the 16, including SIMI's Uttar Pradesh
chief Mohammed Amir, were involved in Kanpur riots in 2001 in which a government
official on riot-control duty was also killed. Amir has openly admitted that
SIMI members draw inspiration from terror mastermind Osama bin Laden who,
according to him, is not a terrorist. Arraigned as he is by a section of Muslims,
one shouldn't be taken aback by the softening of Mulayam government's approach
towards SIMI.
"Few thousands came from Pak to see cricket
match. More than 20 are missing. No care for them. Are they terrorists or
'cricket lover?" see article in organizer, April 03, 05. Former Home
Minister of Maharasthra Munde accused Simi and ISI of plotting the blasts
in trains. The Centre is busy operating bus services to Pakistan and Islamabad,
on its part, is busy pushing terrorists into India." said Bal Thackeray.
According to the SIMI, Al Qaeda chief Osama
bin Laden is an outstanding example of a true Mujahid, who has undertaken
Jehad on behalf of the 'ummah'. The government seems to have got further evidence
connecting the banned SIMI organization with Saudi fugitive Osama-bin-Laden
following the arrest of 128 of its cadres holding a secret meeting in Surat,
(Gujarat) on Dec. 30, 2001.
Senseless Argument
As per SIMI, Israelis were responsible for
the 9/11 attacks in New York. In the same tone Secular Railway Minister Laloo
Yadav and his sponsored Bannerjee Commission Report said that Karsevaks returning
from Ayodhya burnt themselves in the train compartment at Godhra Station.
Playing the same dirty politics SSP leader Abu Asim Azmi and Rane former leader
of Shiv Sena and now in Congress alleged that the Shiv Sena might have "conspired"
in the desecration of statue of Thackeray's wife Meenatai's bust to gain political
mileage.
Sonia opposed ban on SIMI
March 26, 2002: Sonia Gandhi, during an extraordinary
joint session convened for the introduction of the POTA bill, says that the
anti-terrorism measure had been selectively used to ban an organization that
had nothing to do with terrorism in J&K. Further she opposed the banning
of Islamic terrorist organization SIMI in June 2002.
Ban on SIMI was ill timed: Ambika
Smt. Ambika Soni, Former General Secretary,
AICC issued the following statement on 28th September, 2001 on the ban on
SIMI: Apart from being lop-sided, the action on SIMI is ill-timed. Just when
the international environment is exceptionally tense, it is not in the national
interest to take any steps that would disturb the domestic scene. But the
BJP is far more interested in reaping the electoral harvest in UP by seeking
to divide the people on communal lines than in the enlightened self-interest
of the nation.
Prakash Jaiswal supported SIMI
It is important to note that in the year 2000
Prakash Jaiswal who was President of the state unit of the Congress (At present
State Home Minister in UPA Govt.) and Samajwadi Party opposed the ban on the
Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). They maintained the view that
the Hindu fundamentalist outfits like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and
the Bajrang Dal were more threat to the national security than SIMI. They
viewed like that because forthcoming Assembly elections in the state in which
the votes of the Muslims would play a significant role.
Congress & left wanted support of SIMI
Hindustan Times published an article of Tapan
Das on April 23, 2004 which contained: Both the Congress and the Left Front
have reportedly begun courting the outlawed Student Islamic Movement of India
(SIMI) in a bid to win over the Muslim vote bank. But a section of SIMI supporters
aren't apparently impressed, and have instead decided to back the recently
floated Indian National League.
UPA extended ban on SIMI
Ban of 2002 by NDA Govt. on the Students Islamic
Movement of India (SIMI) has been further extended by UPA Govt. in 2006, even
as Uttar Pradesh government of Mulayam Yadav voiced its opposition to the
move. Uttar Pradesh home department spokesperson said since the organization
was not involved in ''any activities'' and neither had it (UP) received any
complaint against SIMI; the state would not support the ban. But Congress
led state Governments of Maharashtra and M.P. support the ban on it due to
its anti-national activities. But they had alleged that the government was
indulging in double standards in banning SIMI alone while sparing the Hindu
fundamentalist outfits.
Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, India
(CLMCI) strongly condemns the attitude of Govt. of India led by UPA towards
the SIMI.
'Terror at Rush Hour'
'Terror at Rush Hour' by seven bomb blasts
took place in Mumbai towards evening on July 11 - or 7/11 as it will surely
be referred to from now on. New Delhi, the country's capital, went through
a series of bomb blasts in October last year. Academics were shot at during
a seminar last December in Bangalore, the face of India's booming software
industry and now these blasts in Mumbai, India's financial capital. Who was
responsible for the carnage on the Indian rail network?
Police sketched suspected terrorists
Police were looking for two men they suspect
may have planted explosives on one of the trains, which exploded at Borivili,
the Indian Express reported, quoting unnamed officials. It said the police
were composing a sketch of a fair, wavy-haired young man who had boarded the
train and got off in a hurry. The other suspect was wearing a police uniform.
Al Qaeda ISI Lashkar SIMI Combination
The U.S. government has designated both terrorist
organizations LeT and SIMI and considers them affiliates of al-Qaeda.
"The blasts were too sophisticated for
the Kashmiri groups to have carried out on their own. This is the work of
groups which are targeting India as a whole and are not Kashmir specific and
are pursuing the larger jihadi agenda," said Ajit Doval, who maintains
strong contacts in the intelligence community. "They are targeting countries
and societies, particularly democratic ones, which they consider to be the
antithesis of their version of Islam."
So the blame is being pointed at Islamic fundamentalists
including al-Qaida and ISI supported Dawood Ibrahim, LeT, SIMI combination.
STUDENTS ISLAMIC MOVEMENT OF INDIA (SIMI)
having deep roots in many districts of Maharashtra and links to Lashkar, was
banned in India in 2001. In the past, Lashkar is known to have used SIMI activists
to help carry out attacks. SIMI activists have been blamed for small train
bombings in northern Uttar Pradesh in recent years. Both groups were blamed
for a series of Mumbai bombings in 2003.
Police picked through the mangled train cars,
placing evidence in blue plastic bags and reported that powerful RDX explosives
were used, and that police found timers at one of the station's hit. "They
(LeT and its local support base SIMI) were definitely bombs," said A.P.
Sinha, an official from the state of Maharashtra
Conclusion
Here it is relevant to quote Sir Winston Churchill
who deprecated British surrender before Germany before the outbreak of Second
World War thus, "Still, if you will not fight for the right when you
can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory
will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will
have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival."
Will India fight its tormentors now to prevent
grim tragedies like Grenade attacks in J & K as well as 7/11 serial blasts
of Mumbai on July 11, 2006 in future?
