Investigations continue into the 11 July serial blasts in Mumbai that led to the loss of over 200 lives. Fingers have been pointed at several organizations ranging from the D-company to al-Qaeda. However, a study of past terrorist attacks pinpoints the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) as the prime suspects. The proscription of SIMI in 2001 had little impact on its growth. Its subsequent renewal, with generous financial grants from the Arab countries, has led to its expansion. Its recruitment, especially after the Gujarat riots in 2002, has gone up. Experts estimate the strength of SIMI ansars (full-time members) and ordinary members to be around one lakh. With this expansion, SIMI has become a principal recruitment base for several terrorist organizations that have extended their activities beyond Jammu & Kashmir.

Ideology brings LeT and SIMI together. Whereas the Lashkar seeks to undermine Indian sovereignty over the Jammu & Kashmir region, SIMI's campaign is for establishing a Shariat-based Islamic rule through 'Islami Inquilab'. Ideological similarity has cemented the forging of strategic linkages. The LeT has used SIMI to expand its base in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala. SIMI has provided the LeT with manpower and support. LeT, in fact, is not known to be orchestrating sophisticated and coordinated attacks on its own beyond the boundaries of Jammu & Kashmir. According to intelligence sources, SIMI has become crucial to the integration of terror outfits, extremist and political groups. Whenever the LeT operates outside Jammu and Kashmir, it has been usually found that it has had major support from SIMI activists.

LeT has also used its linkages with Bangladesh based groups - Harkat-ul-Jehadi-al Islami (HuJI) and Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), along with SIMI, to expand its terror network in eastern and central India. This network had carried out the terrorist attack on the Sankat Mochan temple and railway station in Varanasi on 7 March 2006. The same network was involved in the 28 July 2005 Shramjeevi Express blasts near Jaunpur. In each of these incidents SIMI cadres played a pivotal role. The conspirator in the Varanasi blasts, Waliullah, Pesh Imam of Phulpur in Allahabad, was a SIMI ansar. Zubair, who was involved in the attacks on the Sankatmochan Temple and the railway station, was also a SIMI cadre. Babu Bhai, suspected to be involved in the Shramjeevi Express blasts was, again, a SIMI ansar.

Following the Mumbai blasts, police have launched a hunt for two persons named Zabiuddin and Fayaz, whose names figured in the Aurangabad arms seizure and the blast that took place outside the Karnavati Express in Gujarat on February 2006 that left 25 people injured. There is a suspicion that both acted as links between LeT and SIMI. Similarly, a lookout notice has been issued against Mohammed Rahil, another LeT conduit, suspected to be linked with LeT operative Agam Chima in Pakistan. Similarly, the involvement of two lesser-known outfits - the Gujarat Revenge Group and Tableeq are also being probed. While the Gujarat Revenge Group is involved in subversive activities in Gujarat and Maharashtra, the Tableeq is managed by former SIMI cadres.

The past history of several LeT militants informs their linkages with SIMI. Several of the 11 Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives arrested from the Aurangabad area in May 2006, while attempting to move a shipment of explosives, assault rifles, and grenades into Gujarat, had worked for SIMI before it was proscribed, and had used its hideouts. Zainuddin Ansari, the untraced head of the cell, had worked as a SIMI ansar for several years. Another member of the cell, Shakeel Ahmad Shaikh, had delivered a provocative speech at the SIMI convention in 1999 in Aurangabad before the LeT's then Hyderabad commander, Azam Ghauri.

Further, indications of the linkages between SIMI and LeT were provided by the intelligence departments of several State governments where the former is active. For example, an official declaration by the Kerala government submitted on 1 June 2006 before the tribunal examining the legality of the ban on SIMI indicated that its cadres had developed links with the LeT. Similarly, Maharashtra Police has said that the three LeT terrorists involved in the attack on the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on 1 June 2006 used the SIMI network to arrange arms and ammunitions for the task. Mohammed Amir Shakeel Ahmad Sheikh, another SIMI activist arrested in the May 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case, was a Lashkar recruit.

Coordinated crackdowns have been launched against SIMI networks in various states following the Mumbai blasts. However, India's counter-terrorism efforts would immensely benefit from realizing that the activities of banned organizations also need constant monitoring if such attacks are to be prevented.