The Central Government finally decided to ban the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, after considering the issue for a long time. The ban was justified on at least four accounts – its linkages with militant organizations that are operating in Jammu and Kashmir; its Pan-Islamic connections with organizations known to be funding “jihadi” organizations worldwide; its network at the national level, which has been used for subversive purposes; and, finally, the objectives and policies it supports.
Firstly, what makes the SIMI dangerous is its network. The SIMI was established in
Aligarh
in 1977 and ever since the SIMI has established an extensive network nation-wide. It has cells in various parts of the country and is especially active in Madhya Pradesh,
Gujarat
,
Maharashtra
and Kerala. Besides, the SIMI has close links with other fundamentalist Muslim organizations in various states. The Chief Ministers of these states and the intelligence agencies have repeatedly been demanding a ban on the SIMI for the last few years. It has a cell for young children aged between 7 and 11 called Shaheen Force, sympathizers called Ikhwans and full time workers called Ansars. There are around 400 Ansars and 20,000 Ikhwans. The SIMI also has a Dawah Cell, whose main objective is to re-convert those who “were misguided by the Shuddhikaran movement.” It brings out several magazines all over
India
– Islamic Movement (in Urdu, Hindi, and English), Vivekam (Malayalam), Sedi Malar (Tamil), Rupantar (Bengali) and Iqraa (Gujrati).
Secondly, the ban on SIMI is justified for its role in creating communal disharmony and its disruptive policies. The SIMI was responsible for inciting communal violence in
Gujarat
,
Maharashtra
and Madhya Pradesh, by its inflammatory speeches and posters. In 2001 alone, the SIMI was responsible for the communal riots in Pune and
Kanpur
in March and for the bomb blast in the Sabarmati Express on Independence Day.
The SIMI believes the parliamentary system is unsuitable for bringing about an Islamic Revolution and is against democracy, socialism, secularism and nationalism. At its conferences conducted all over
India
, the SIMI praised Osama bin Laden as the ideal mujahid, pasted his posters, and supported Taliban policies including the destruction of the Buddha statues in Bamiyan. In one of the interviews, Dr. Shahid Badr, President of the SIMI, when asked whether he believes in nationalism answered “Nationalism causes war and hatred among people.” (The Week, September 09, 2001)
Thirdly, the SIMI has extensive linkages with pan-Islamic organizations and groups and gets most of its moral and monetary support from them. Though the SIMI claims that it is not receiving “contribution from abroad either from individuals or from institutions” but is only collecting “funds through personal contributions of its members and collection of Zakah from its well wishers within the country” it is reported to be getting funds from the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) and the International Islamic Federation of Students Organization in Kuwait. The WAMY has organized anti-India meetings on
Kashmir
and funded the construction of new mosques and madrassas in
Jammu and Kashmir
. Besides, these pan-Islamic organizations which liberally fund for Muslim causes, the SIMI has extensive linkages with other fundamentalist and militant Islamic organizations in
South Asia
. For example, it has links with the Jamaat-e-Islami in
Pakistan
,
Bangladesh
and
Nepal
.
Fourthly, the SIMI’s ban is justified due to its links with some of the militant organizations. The SIMI has ties with the Hizbul Mujahideen which came to light this year, when the Maharashtra Police arrested nine members who attempted to bomb the RSS and the VHP offices in
Nagpur
in May 2001. Eight of the nine arrested, were part of the SIMI and four of them were trained by the Hizbul Mujahideen; the Hizbul had trained the SIMI cadres in handling arms and explosives.
While banning the SIMI, some questions also need to be addressed. First, how was the SIMI able to gain support on such a wide scale. Any organization with a membership of over 20,000 should not be treated casually. What makes a community join such a fundamentalist organization? The social, economic and political conditions that drive it to support fundamentalism need to be addressed. Secondly, it is essential to look into the objectives and actions of all fundamentalist groups irrespective of the religion to which they belong to. If the reason for banning the SIMI is that it was involved in creating communal violence, then groups like the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which also spread communal hatred, need to be banned. The fundamentalist groups belonging to the Muslim community became violent only after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1991. The violent activities of the Bajrang Dal and the VHP against the Christian and Muslim communities and their role in inciting communal violence have been proved beyond doubt. Dig Vijay Singh, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh has called for banning the Bajrang Dal. These Hindu fundamentalist organizations also have a wide network and impart arms training to their cadres. The only difference between the SIMI and these Hindu fundamentalist groups is that they are not trained by any militant organization. Is this reason good enough not to ban the VHP and Bajrang Dal?
Banning the SIMI has been a step in the right direction. However, it will have little credibility if other organizations fanning communal tensions are not banned.
Facebook
Blink
Del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Google
Simpy
Spurl
Y! MyWeb
