Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 31, 2008
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/SIMI_quietly_takes_terror_centrestage/articleshow/3303754.cms
Introduction: Arrest of Leaders Hasn't Hampered
Its Capabilities
For an organization that has emerged as the
cat's paw of Pakistan's efforts to ''indigenize'' its covert operations in
India, including terror strikes against civilian targets, not much is known
about Students Islamic Movement of India's (SIMI's) networks and organizational
bases.
With a strength of 20,000 foot soldiers or
adherents, a section of SIMI's top leadership, including its general secretary
and ideologue Safdar Nagori, was immobilized in an Indore raid in March. The
arrests of Nagori and 10 aides were seen as a big blow to the outfit. Their
grilling was expected to yield details on the 7/11 bombings.
But as the incidents in Bangalore and Ahmedabad
establish, SIMI networks do not seem to have been significantly disrupted
and their links with groups like HuJI are sufficiently intact to stage big
strikes. As the arrests and interrogation of various SIMI members since 2001
have shown, several activists have travelled to Pakistan to receive terror
training. SIMI's collaboration with an arm of the Bangladesh-based HuJI has
been significant. Identified by the CIA as HuJI-B, the Bangladesh-based group
has become a major agent for planning and staging attacks in India. From being
foot soldiers providing local statistics, SIMI men are moving up the terror
chain, increasingly involved in planning and execution.
Indian agencies have recently noted that Pakistan's
dependence on SIMI is growing. The organization is part of the ISI plans to
make jihad in India more local. This allows Pakistan to point to home-grown
militants being India's ''responsibility'' and counter the charge that it
is the font of terrorism in South Asia. These arguments are not likely to
impress the international community as long as Pakistan's role in destabilizing
Afghanistan is apparent, but it helps Islamabad deny links to terror groups.
SIMI has long been influenced by a vision
of an Islamic state where there is unity of political and religious states.
Nagori has held Osama bin Laden as the ideal ''mujahid''. Inspired by Maulana
Maududi's vision of an Islamic state, SIMI remained wedded to the ''reinstatement''
of the Caliphate. It is ironic that Maududi himself died in Pakistan, frustrated
at being unable to realize his vision of an Islamic state. It is no surprise
that SIMI sees 9/11 as a Mossad plot. From a theological affiliation to the
Deobandi school-many of its activists like members of Jamaat-i-Islami al-Hind
are alumni of the famous seminary -the shift to violent jihad has been quite
seamless. A widening circle of influence, funded by Saudi money, has seen
SIMI develop foreign contacts. The HuJI launch pads are useful as retreats
while targets are chosen by handlers in Pakistan. Sometimes there is an urgency
as was evident before the 2005 Delhi blasts to stage a ''big show''.
SIMI's founder Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi
has claimed that SIMI ''has been hijacked by elements in other countries''
and is different than the group he established. But there's no denying that
SIMI has been inspired by what it sees as Maududi's goal to make Islam the
supreme principle for social, religious and political life. It has held a
particular vision of the early Muslims as the ideal. It has advocated the
revival of Islam in the light of its views of the Quran and Sunnah.