THE STUDENTS' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is an important link in the global chain of terror, says a report submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan after the Mumbai blasts.
The report (a copy of which is with the HT) provided inputs for presentations made by home minister Shivraj Patil and Narayanan to the Cabinet on Thursday.
Not only is the outfit heavily infiltrated by the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and the Hizb-ul-Muzhahideen, it is also "susceptible to being used and influenced by Pakistan's ISI", intelligence agencies have said.
Since it was banned in 2001, SIMI has been operating through a number of front organizations like the Tahreek Tahaffuz-e-Shaaire Islam.
The report also talks of a "deep nexus" between the SIMI and Hizbul Mujahideen, revealed during investigation into 14 cases of terrorist violence in UP and Delhi during 2000-2001. Abdul Mobin and other former SIMI leaders allegedly helped set up a Hizb base in Aligarh. Hasib Raza, a former president of the Bihar zonal SIMI, is learnt to have motivated activists in Jalgaon (Maharashtra) to undergo militant training in Doda. SIMI activists have carried forward Hizb's attempts to open fronts outside J&K. The organisation’s latest tactic, the report says, is to stir communal trouble. It assumed the leadership in organizing protests against the alleged burning of the Koran in New Delhi in March 2001. State units spread the protest to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka with "remarkable alacrity". SIMI has also been held responsible for the Kanpur riots over the same issue.
The outfit's ideological guru is Masood Azhar, the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed. It projects Osama Bin Laden as the leader of Muslims, the report points out.
{{/usCountry}}The outfit's ideological guru is Masood Azhar, the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed. It projects Osama Bin Laden as the leader of Muslims, the report points out.
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