“WE ARE going to stay, come what may” was the egotistical statement of the arrested Students’ Islamic Movement of India finance secretary Imran Ansari.
Five years down the line, the words mirror the reality when Mumbai is drenched in blood again and the destructive prowess of SIMI is being gauged. It seems a little surprising that SIMI was born out of Jamat-e-Islami on April 25, 1977 in Aligarh but matured as a radical outfit in Mumbai when the Ram Janmbhoomi movement was on.
As the religious passions were flaring up, the SIMI leadership shunned the moderate tag and started talking of an armed struggle to connect with Muslim community. The strategy worked and SIMI’s first two major conferences in Mumbai and Aurangabad saw massive influx of youths from over the country.
It was at these conferences when SIMI for the first time openly appealed for armed struggle. SIMI then attracted not only people from modest background, but also rich and well educated like Dr Jalees Ansari, Moinuddin Jamal who swore to back SIMI with their lives. They had attended the Bombay conference and got into Harkat-ul-Ansar through a SIMI leader from Kashmir, Abdullah Shirzi.
Moinuddin Jamal, born 1940, educated in Texas, United States and a known globetrotter, was arrested for blasts in Karnataka, Mumbai and Rajasthan. Jamal who was planning a counter attack on the office of Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, with prime accused of 1993 blasts Ejaz Pathan, was arrested by the CBI from Old Nakkhas in Lucknow.
By this time, SIMI was venturing into other territories especially UP and Bihar with Aligarh as a base for want of subversive elements. But Mumbai was never out of sight, revealed Imran Ansari during his interrogation. His diaries with details of accounts showed that 70 per cent of the funds came from Mumbai.
{{/usCountry}}By this time, SIMI was venturing into other territories especially UP and Bihar with Aligarh as a base for want of subversive elements. But Mumbai was never out of sight, revealed Imran Ansari during his interrogation. His diaries with details of accounts showed that 70 per cent of the funds came from Mumbai.
{{/usCountry}}The sympathisers had even brought SIMI on the payment list of some trusts based in Saudi Arabia and UK and funding for the Muslim cause worldwide.
Lying low for a year SIMI relocated itself again in Mumbai with the help of vast strength of sympathisers. This time it returned forging vital alliances with Harkat-Jehad-al Islami with which it executed the Varanasi attack.
It also carried out explosion in Shramjeevi Express near Jaunpur .Mushir had pointed out SIMI cadres were being utilised to bring in explosives stockpiled for long in small centres to Mumbai. But intelligence suspect that SIMI boys might be involved in a direct operation for the first time.