07-13-2006, 12:45 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Crackdown on SIMI, Centre tells States </b>
Pioneer.com
Pramod Kumar Singh | New Delhi
With intelligence bureau (IB) reports confirming that cadres of Students Islamic Movement in India (SIMI) were responsible for the Mumbai train blasts, the Centre has told all the State Governments to launch a crackdown on SIMI cadres and their sympathisers.
<b>A powerful politician of Mumbai, who enjoys a large following among SIMI operatives is under the scanner as agencies have evidence of his possible involvement in these blasts. </b>
<b>IB is in possession of evidence linking SIMI with Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT). Lashkar has been taking the help of SIMI in carrying out terror activities in India. </b>Intelligence sources say, the coordinated blasts in the local trains could not have been possible without the active involvement of SIMI.
Forces behind the creation of SIMI were itching to make their presence felt after the Supreme Court on July 6 2006 upheld the ban on this organisation, rejecting a petition that claimed that the organisation had not been found to engage in any terrorist activities.
It may be recalled, SIMI was first banned in September 2001 by NDA Government under section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The ban was necessitated after the security agencies furnished proof linking SIMI to Lashkar and suggesting that it had become a visible threat to national security.
<b>Before the Central ban, SIMI was linked with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in Bangladesh and its students' wing, the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS). </b>
<b>Intelligence sources now say old connections are still continuing and it has established with the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al Islami(HUJI) of Bangladesh. </b>
Investigations by the Uttar Pradesh Police into the July 28, 2005, Shramjeevi Express explosion near Jaunpur and the Varanasi serial blasts of March 7, 2006, indicated the roles of SIMI's full-time cadres and HUJI's agents. The prime conspirator of the Varanasi blasts, Waliullah, the Pesh Imam of Phulpur in Allahabad, who was arrested on April 5 near Gosainganj, on the outskirts of Lucknow, was a SIMI area commander.
Aurangabad, Malegaon, Jalgaon and Thane and Mumbai in Maharashtra have remained SIMI stronghold. It has spread its tentacles in the madrasas of Shirol and Udgam in Kolhapur, Jalgaon, Nashik, Thane, Sholapur, Kolhapur, Gadchiroli, Nanded, Aurangabad, Malegaon and Pune have been brought under the scanner for SIMI activities. There are more than 3,000 madrassas in the State, with about 200,000 students. According to an intelligence estimate there are as many as 500 seminaries in Mumbai alone and a majority of these madrasas are SIMI hotbed.
<b>Lashkar is believed to have carried an aggressive recruitment drive in Maharashtra and Gujarat and reports say SIMI is behind this manpower drive. The outfit is believed to be specially targeting well-educated and technically sound persons for its operations</b>. At least four of the 11 LeT operatives held from Aurangabad and Beed were well educated and technically competent. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer.com
Pramod Kumar Singh | New Delhi
With intelligence bureau (IB) reports confirming that cadres of Students Islamic Movement in India (SIMI) were responsible for the Mumbai train blasts, the Centre has told all the State Governments to launch a crackdown on SIMI cadres and their sympathisers.
<b>A powerful politician of Mumbai, who enjoys a large following among SIMI operatives is under the scanner as agencies have evidence of his possible involvement in these blasts. </b>
<b>IB is in possession of evidence linking SIMI with Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT). Lashkar has been taking the help of SIMI in carrying out terror activities in India. </b>Intelligence sources say, the coordinated blasts in the local trains could not have been possible without the active involvement of SIMI.
Forces behind the creation of SIMI were itching to make their presence felt after the Supreme Court on July 6 2006 upheld the ban on this organisation, rejecting a petition that claimed that the organisation had not been found to engage in any terrorist activities.
It may be recalled, SIMI was first banned in September 2001 by NDA Government under section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The ban was necessitated after the security agencies furnished proof linking SIMI to Lashkar and suggesting that it had become a visible threat to national security.
<b>Before the Central ban, SIMI was linked with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in Bangladesh and its students' wing, the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS). </b>
<b>Intelligence sources now say old connections are still continuing and it has established with the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al Islami(HUJI) of Bangladesh. </b>
Investigations by the Uttar Pradesh Police into the July 28, 2005, Shramjeevi Express explosion near Jaunpur and the Varanasi serial blasts of March 7, 2006, indicated the roles of SIMI's full-time cadres and HUJI's agents. The prime conspirator of the Varanasi blasts, Waliullah, the Pesh Imam of Phulpur in Allahabad, who was arrested on April 5 near Gosainganj, on the outskirts of Lucknow, was a SIMI area commander.
Aurangabad, Malegaon, Jalgaon and Thane and Mumbai in Maharashtra have remained SIMI stronghold. It has spread its tentacles in the madrasas of Shirol and Udgam in Kolhapur, Jalgaon, Nashik, Thane, Sholapur, Kolhapur, Gadchiroli, Nanded, Aurangabad, Malegaon and Pune have been brought under the scanner for SIMI activities. There are more than 3,000 madrassas in the State, with about 200,000 students. According to an intelligence estimate there are as many as 500 seminaries in Mumbai alone and a majority of these madrasas are SIMI hotbed.
<b>Lashkar is believed to have carried an aggressive recruitment drive in Maharashtra and Gujarat and reports say SIMI is behind this manpower drive. The outfit is believed to be specially targeting well-educated and technically sound persons for its operations</b>. At least four of the 11 LeT operatives held from Aurangabad and Beed were well educated and technically competent. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->