SIMI using festivals as terror fundraisers: Govt to SC

BLAST FROM THE PAST: The bomb blasts on July 26 killed 49 people and injured hundreds.

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New Delhi: From Hyderabad to Jaipur to Ahemdabad, terror in India is now getting identified with one name: Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

Founded in 1977 in Aligarh by a US-returned professor, SIMI was to be a students' front. Now in affidavit by the Union Government in Supreme Court, SIMI is being called as the fountainhead of terror in the country.

The Government is making it clear that it SIMI is responsible for blasts in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Malegaon and Bombay

It has managed to evolve as a militant organisation by launching several frontal groups like..Tahreek-e-Ehyaa-e-Ummat (TEU), Tehreek-Talaba-e-Arabia (TTA), Tehrik Tahaffuz-e-Sha'aire Islam (TTSI) and Wahadat-e-Islami

For the first time, the Government is accusing them of using Muslim festivals through the year to collect funds for Jihad. They have also been charged of vitiating the communal atmosphere of the country

For the political class though, all these details don’t matter. Despite the Gujarat government and top intelligence agencies describing Mufti Bashir as one of the top SIMI activists responsible for Ahemdabad blasts, the Samajwadi party is calling him a victim of prejudices.

Finally, the UPA has been compelled to take a strong stand on SIMI after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi showed the way and an open war being fought in Uttar Pradesh between Mayawati and Mulayam on the organisation. Maywati wants a ban, the Samajwadi says SIMI is clean.