Blast In Mumbai's Suburban Train

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mulayam comes out in defence of SIMI
CNN-IBN
Posted Thursday , July 13, 2006 at 15:53

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday said his government <b>had no evidence that the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was active in his state</b>.

He also told reporters in Lucknow that it was too early to say whether SIMI had any role to play in the 7/11 Mumbai blasts.

"Now that the authorities are looking for the perpetrators of the Mumbai blasts, they are obviously going to probe everywhere," he said.

Mulayam was simply reiterating what he had told the Centre in June 2005.

However, there is speculation that Mulayam's statements are nothing more than <b>vote bank politics</b> coming to the fore with the elections approaching.

<b>Also Mulayam Singh has always protected the unlawful body despite the fact that his own intelligence and security agencies have hinted at the fact that SIMI might be involved in the Shramjeevi Express blasts that took place soon after the attack on the disputed site in Ayodhaya and more recently, the Varanasi blasts. </b>

SIMI was banned in 2001 under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act 1967.
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