Radical Islam and internal security

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>SIMI was in touch with Kashmiri separatists</b>
Pioneer.com
Rakesh K Singh | New Delhi
The head of the hardline faction of banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Safdar Nagori, had extensive links with the Jammu and Kashmir separatists and had even received support from Pakistani embassy here. Nagori had attended a party in 2002 hosted by the then Pak Ambassador Riaz Khokhar for the Jammu and Kashmir separatists, according to his confessional statement before the Madhya Pradesh police. 

<b>During the course of interrogation, Nagori admitted of his meetings with Kashmiri separatist and Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in 1997. Nagori had also visited the Kashmir Awareness Bureau in 1996-1997 and met influential separatist leaders Maulvi Abbas Ansari, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and Yasin Malik.</b>

The interrogation report reveals that Nagori, along with Saif Nachan and Abdul Subhan alias Tauqeer, also attended the iftar party organised by Khokhar in the national Capital.

The MP police's "top-secret" interrogation report states that Nagori was instrumental in taking SIMI on the path of terror against the wishes of moderate members of the outfit, including Shahid Badr Falahi and Miswah-ul-Islam, who wanted to use the organisations for political goals. Other SIMI members -- like Shivli of Kerala, Hafiz of Karnataka and Aamil Parwez and Kamruddin of Uttar Pradesh -- were party to the decision to take the outfit on the path of spreading pan-India terror.

Nagori claimed they had decided to take revenge for the post-Godhra riots and teach a lesson to those who were behind the destruction of Babri Masjid. They had met on July 6 and 7 in Ujjain and decided to prepare the outfit for mounting pressure for action on the Srikrishna Commission Report, which had probed the Mumbai riots.

Nagori also told the MP police of his local support network and funding nodes in various cities, but denied direct links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). However, he admitted that the SIMI received support from Pak-trained jehadi Nasir of Karnataka.

Nagori also sang about training camps organised by SIMI in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh where inputs about making bombs, courses on shooting and the art of self-defence were explained to the members. Top SIMI members Shivli, Mohammad Ali, Aamil Parwez and Asadullah had also attended these camps.

Nagori spent most of his time in strengthening the outfit in Madhya Pradesh after SIMI was banned. He has since developed an extensive network in Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain, Narsinghgarh and Jabalpur.

Nagori is a diploma holder in mechanical engineering and has a masters in journalism and mass communication from Vikram University, Ujjain. His association with SIMI began in 1986 while he was studying at Polytechnic College, Ujjain. He had edited the Islamic Movement monthly during his stay in Delhi in 1994. He was also instrumental in formulating a "vision document" of the outfit, titled Vision 2010.

Nagori is suspected to be behind the Ahmedabad serial blasts and is currently in the custody of the Gujarat police for interrogation. He was also interrogated by the Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Mumbai police earlier this month. The MP police had cracked Nagori's network in March this year. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->