Aurangabad under scan, cops take long, hard look at its many youth organisations

Across the city, hundreds of social organizations are busy with “character building of youth.” Nearly 4,000 new trusts have registered with the Charity Commissioner since 2001, a mix of women’s groups, educational societies, social groups.

The Majlis-e-Ishal-e-Islam is one such group. “We educate people on the teachings of the Koran,” says member Syed Akeel. “Basic religious teaching is imparted to students of Urdu schools—how they should lead their lives.”

Adds Abdul Hameed Khan of the Jamaat-E-Islami-Hind: “People have forgotten about their creator. They need to be reminded about it.”

Such talk may not have raised eyebrows elsewhere. But Aurangabad is a city that hosted the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) national convention in 1999. And with the banned SIMI being suspected of a hand in the Mumbai blasts, all these social groups are under the scanner. Investigators want to know if they are SIMI fronts.

“We have to keep track on some organizations to make sure that they are not fronts for banned organizations,” says ACP Sudhir Dabhade, in-charge of Aurangabad’s anti-terrorist cell. “One organization has been banned but there are so many others that are being formed. Very few do genuine work.”

Officials at the Charity Commissioner’s office say there’s no control over the activities of the groups that register with them. All that the commissionerate does is check if they submit audit reports and pay tax if they are earning more than Rs 25,000.

Intelligence sources said there is cause for worry. “The number of social organizations, madarsas and mosques is on the rise in the region,” said an official. “Many have mushroomed along arterial roads leading out of Aurangabad. The cause of concern is their funding. Grand mosques are being built. No one knows where the funds come from.”

The other worry of intelligence agencies is that all these organisations deal with youths.

“The youth are brought together on the pretext of education,” explains an official. “Groups spring up saying that their young are being influenced by the western world or that they need to be weaned away from vices. Once they have 100-odd students with them, the indoctrination begins.” According to officials, students are tested on the streets of Aurangabad. Moral policing, enforcing their point of view—they are put through their paces. “Eventually, the bright ones are picked up,” officials add.

But many are quick to defend the groups. “What is wrong if a former SIMI member is part of another group,” argues Ziauddin Siddiqui, former secretary general of SIMI, who now runs a medical store.

“There is prejudice at work here. SIMI was not of this ideology when I was a member, nearly 13 years back. I don’t believe it has anything to do with all this now either. None of the cases against SIMI has been proved.”

Soft-spoken lab assistant Khan Mustafa Ali agrees.

A member of SIMI till 2001, Ali now teaches practicals at the Bhagwan Homoeopathy College.

“I was part of all the anti-alcohol and anti-tobacco rallies then. It is an issue I still care about. But the way the group is being targeted is not fair,” he says. At present, with no major breakthrough in the Mumbai blast case, the vigil on Ali and his friends continues. All former SIMI activists are being asked to report to their nearest police stations frequently.