On Tuesday, July 25, the Supreme Court of India refused an urgent hearing on a batch of pleas against a ban imposed on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
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The bench of Justices SK Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia instructed the attorney who requested the matter be listed to approach the court after the hearing on the matter of Article 370 of the Constitution is completed.
The attorney informed the bench that the case was scheduled for hearing on January 18 but has not been listed since.
To this the bench said, “Next week, hearing in the Constitution bench (on Article 370) is starting. Mention it after it is over.”
Center says SIMI wanted to establish Islamic rule in India
Notably, in January this year, the central government filed an affidavit in the apex court wherein it said that the objective of the outlawed Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is to establish Islamic rule in India cannot be allowed to subsist and that the activists of the banned outfit are still indulging in disruptive activities that are capable of threatening the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The affidavit was submitted in response to a petition contesting the 2019 notification that extended the outfit’s ban under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
According to the Centre, the organisation’s goal is to engage students and the youth in the preaching of Islam and to gain support for Jihad. Through ‘Islami Inqilab,’ the group also promotes the establishment of ‘Shariat’-based Islamic rule. The group rejects the nation-state and the Indian Constitution, especially its secular orientation. It also considers idol worship to be a sin and considers it a ‘responsibility’ to put a stop to such behaviours.
The affidavit also stated that SIMI, through its members, has ties in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and Nepal and is inspired by and exploited by different fundamentalist Islamic terrorist groups functioning inter alia from the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Furthermore, terrorist organisations like Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba have effectively recruited SIMI cadres to fulfil their anti-national aims, as stated by the administration.
About its continued activities, the authorities declared that “After the prohibition, SIMI is carrying out its activities under the garb of cover groups in many states of the nation. Many SIMI cadres have reorganised under various names, including ‘Wahadat-e-Islami’ in Tamil Nadu, ‘Indian Mujahideen’ in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi, ‘Ansarullah’ in Karnataka, ‘Muslim Muttahida Mihad’ in Uttar Pradesh, ‘Wahadat-e-Ummat’ in Madhya Pradesh, and ‘Nagarik Adhikar Suraksha Manch’ in West Bengal.”
The home ministry pointed out that one ‘Karuna Foundation’ in Kerala was used by ex-SIMI members as well. Another organisation by the name ‘Amanat Foundation’ also showed pro-SIMI leanings. “At all India levels, SIMI has been regrouped under various names including ‘Tahreek-e-Ehyaa-e-Ummat,’ a movement for the revival of the Community, ‘Tehreek-Talaba-e-Arabia;’ ‘Tehrik Tahaffuz-e-Sha’aire Islam’ etc. Besides, there are over three dozen other front organizations through which SIMI is being continued. These front organisations help SIMI in various activities including collection of funds, circulation of literature, regrouping of cadres, etc,” the Centre stated.
SIMI and the terrorist attacks carried out by the banned terrorist organisation
The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was formed in 1977 at Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, initially as a student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH). It is believed that SIMI was established to renew Jamaat-e-Islami’s older student wing, the Students Islamic Organisation (SIO). However, SIMI split off from the main organisation due to ideological differences and proclaimed independence in 1993.
SIMI, run by the most fundamentalist and extremist students, worked on the ideas of establishing Sharia and governing the country based on the Quran, propagation of Islam and carrying out “Jihad” for the cause of Islam. The banned terror outfit was against the “Western ideals” and rejects secularism, democracy and nationalism. It seeks the restoration of the “khilafat” or caliphate and establishes Dar-ul-Islam (Islamic land) in India by converting the populace.
In addition, SIMI sought to emphasise “ummah”, or the Muslim brotherhood and the need for a Jihad to establish the supremacy of Islam. As a result, the SIMI, a student body, transformed itself into a terrorist outfit to fulfil its intended objective. SIMI became active in the country for the next few decades and carried out some of the deadliest terrorist attacks on Indian soil.
Some notable terrorist attacks involving SIMI include:
- 1992 Bombay Riots: SIMI was allegedly involved in the communal riots that occurred in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in 1992-1993.
- 2001 Indian Parliament Attack: Several members of SIMI were suspected to have connections with the terrorist organizations responsible for the attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001.
- 2006 Mumbai Train Bombings: SIMI was suspected to have been involved in the serial train bombings in Mumbai in July 2006 that claimed the innocent lives of over 209 people.
- 2008 Ahmedabad Bombings: SIMI members were alleged to have played a role in the coordinated bomb attacks in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in July 2008.
- 2013 Bodh Gaya Blast: Members of SIMI were suspected of being involved in the blasts at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, in July 2013.
- Abdul Sattar, a SIMI operative, was arrested in the case relating to a 2007 terror training camp held at Wagamon in Kerala after he was deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). NIA also suspected Sattar’s involvement in other cases, including the 2008 Bangalore blasts.
- In April 2015, there was another incident in which two alleged SIMI members, Mohammed Eijazuddin and Mohammed Aslam, who had escaped from Khandwa Jail in Madhya Pradesh in October 2013, shot dead Telangana policemen.
SIMI also has a history of even aiding Pakistan’s ISI against India. The SIMI was originally banned in 2001 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and the organisation’s ban has been extended on a regular basis since then. The MHA extended the ban on SIMI for five years in its January 31, 2019 announcement. This was the eighth time the ban has been extended. Nevertheless, SIMI was active for nearly four decades in the country.
How the banned terror outfit later metamorphosed into the Indian Mujahideen
The dreaded organisation SIMI is also considered the parent organisation of Indian Mujahideen, founded by several radicalized members including Iqbal Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal, Yasin Bhatkal, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, Amir Reza Khan and Sadiq Israr Sheikh, among others. Some analysts suggest that IM split off from SIMI, attracting extremist elements, thus becoming the terrorist wing of SIMI. According to Indian intelligence, the IM had members from the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and terrorists Harkat ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI).
In fact, HuJI, ARCA, Jamaat-e-Hind, Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) and Lashkar-e-Taiba, all have links with Indian Mujahideen. Also, there is strong evidence linking IM and Pakistan’s ISI.
Indian Mujahideen (IM), the Islamist terrorist group has been active since at least 2005. It carried out several serial bombings in Indian cities in the following years including the Varanasi blasts in March 2006, the Mumbai sequential explosions in July 2006, the detonations in the courts of Uttar Pradesh in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow in November 2007 as well as the Jaipur periodic bomb blasts, Delhi serial explosions and the Hyderabad twin blasts in August 2007.
The terrorist group claimed responsibility for the 13 May 2008 Jaipur bombings in an e-mail addressed to Indian media, threatening to “demolish the faiths (all religions aside from Islam) of the infidels of India.”
The group’s largest and most audacious strike to date was the series of explosions in Ahmedabad in 2008, which received national attention due to the more than 50 casualties.
Recently, on July 13, 2023, a special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Delhi handed down 10-year prison sentences to four individuals involved in the Indian Mujahideen conspiracy case. The probe pertained to a plot orchestrated by Pakistan-backed terrorists to carry out bomb blasts across India.
The NIA revealed that the perpetrators were closely associated with Indian Mujahideen members, notably the prime accused Riyaz Bhatkal with ties to Pakistan and Yasin Bhatkal, who is based in India.
The NIA stated that Yasin Bhatkal, one of the founding members of the Indian Mujahideen, was “instrumental in motivating young Muslim boys into the path of violent Jihad and to further indoctrinated them and to induct them into Indian Mujahideen.” He actively participated in “causing bomb blasts resulting in the loss of several lives and destruction of properties,” based on the agency’s submission.
It is noteworthy to mention the inclusion of the Indian Mujahideen in the UAPA’s First Schedule as a prohibited terrorist group as of 22 June 2009.
