Author: Dhananjay Mahapatra
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 21, 2008
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/SIMI_grave_threat_to_Indias_peace_Govt/articleshow/3386758.cms
[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra: What the
report does not say (deliberately?) is that the Congress party had opposed
the earlier bans, and that one of the senior Congress leader, Salman Kursheed,
had appeared in the court in defence of SIMI. It is this vote bank politics
that is cause of many of the probelems relating to terrorism.]
Its ministers Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan
and their fresh ally, Mulayam Singh Yadav, may consider SIMI to be innocent,
but the UPA government at the Centre holds the fundamentalist outfit to be
a threat to "peace, integrity and secular fabric of India".
Pressing for an absolute ban on SIMI, which
has been found to be increasingly involved in terrorist attacks, the Centre
told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that SIMI activists are not just busy
spreading the message of "jihad", but have also "extended full
support to extremists and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab and have
been involved in various militant and disruptive activities in Maharashtra,
Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu".
In its hard-hitting affidavit designed to
overcome the setback it suffered on August 6 when the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Tribunal turned down its plea to continue the ban on SIMI, the
Centre said that allowing free run to the organization would seriously compromise
national security.
"The Centre was of the opinion that if
the unlawful activities of SIMI were not curbed and controlled immediately,
it would take the opportunity to continue its subversive activities and reorganize
its activities/members who are still absconding; disrupt the secular fabric
of the country by polluting the minds of the people by creating communal disharmony;
propagating anti-national sentiments; escalate secessionism by supporting
militancy," it said, warning of the grave consequences that the country
would face if the ban was lifted.
The SC, which had ordered a freeze on the
tribunal's order, is scheduled to hear the Centre's appeal on August 25.
The tribunal had lifted the ban on the jihadi organization on the ground that
the Centre had failed to provide it with fresh evidence to back up its case.
The two Yadav chieftains and Paswan swiftly latched on to this, to hand out
certificates of innocence to SIMI.
Govt lists 349 cases in SC against SIMI
In its hard-hitting affidavit the UPA government
told the SC on Wednesday that SIMI had also "extended full support to
extremists and terrorists in J&K and Punjab and have been involved in
various militant and disruptive activities in Maharashtra, Kerala, UP and
TN".
The Centre's 42-page affidavit in the top
court on Wednesday marked a strong refutation of the "no fresh evidence"
argument cited by the tribunal and the three leaders.
Displaying a new anxiety to give as much evidence
as possible before the apex court, the Centre gave a list of 349 cases that
were filed against SIMI prior to February 2006 as well another 60-odd which
were slapped later and may qualify to be treated as "fresh evidence".
While the August 6 relief for SIMI had been
immediately challenged by the Centre before the apex court, which ordered
a freeze on the tribunal's order, the intervening period has seen the Gujarat
police, in coordination with police of various states as well as the Intelligence
Bureau unearthing the involvement of the fundamentalist organization in the
terror attack on Ahmedabad. That is not all. Investigation into the Ahmedabad
blasts have provided strong evidence that SIMI and its hardline version, Indian
Mujahideen, was also involved in blasts across the country - serial explosions
in Mumbai suburban trains, as well as those in Jaipur and in the courts in
UP towns of Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad.
The involvement of SIMI is suspected also
in the bomb attacks on Hyderabad and explosions in the country's tech capital,
Bangalore.
Intelligence agencies at the Centre as well
as in states see the growing arc of SIMI's bombings as marking its transformation
into a full-scale terror outfit from a group of hardliners wedded to the jihadi
ideology. The Centre, which challenged the tribunal's August 6 order saying
that the body had ignored the strong cache of evidence it was provided with,
has argued that SIMI was still continuing with the same communal and anti-national
activities for which it was banned earlier.
The affidavit offers a good insight into the
way SIMI works. It said that the SIMI activists have tried to get around the
ban by circulating CDs and cassettes of provocative speeches which are played
before Muslim audiences, urging "jihad". Explaining the modus operandi
of SIMI and its members, the home ministry said they were travelling far and
wide and exploiting all available opportunities, particularly Muslim festivals,
to raise funds.
