Security check

Five days later, on July 11, Terror Tuesday struck Mumbai, with around 200 train commuters killed in serial bomb explosions. It took only hours for the investigating agencies to name SIMI as the 8216;8216;prime suspect8217;8217; and take 200 suspected ansars, or SIMI cadres, into custody.

The 7/11 plot is still unravelling but in the absence of any clinching evidence, the timing of the attack is being considered crucial. Did the SIMI give logistical support to the action as a retaliation to the rebuff from the Supreme Court? Or did the masterminds of a group like the Lashkar-e-Toiba use their ready ground support system since enough explosives had been stockpiled in and around Mumbai despite over 50 kg of RDX being intercepted in May from places like Aurangabad, Malegaon and Nasik?

The Aurangabad seizures and the discovery that of the 12 arrested persons, several were SIMI activists alleged to be couriers bringing in deadly cargo to the financial capital, was the latest indication that a major strike was being plotted. Most of the Lashkar hideouts raided during combing operations belonged belonged to people associated with SIMI .

Earlier, SIMI activists were identified as suspects in the seven blasts that took place in Mumbai between December 2002 and August 2003 in Mulund, Ghatkopar, Zaveri Bazaar and the Gateway of India, which also heralded the dangerous alliance between Pakistan-based groups lke the Lashkar, the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami HuJI-B and local religious groups like SIMI. The terror network was exposed again in the aftermath of the March 7 Varanasi attack, when the alleged chief conspirator, Waliullah, turned out to be a SIMI cadre and the perpetrator of the crime, the HuJI-B.

The link between SIMI and terrorist groups like the LeT and HuJI-B, according to intelligence officials, have by now fallen into a familiar pattern. While hardcore militants continue to form the core of a jehadi or suicide squad, the logistical support and hideouts are believed to be increasingly provided by SIMI.

The group boasts of a membership of 400 full-timers and a fast-expanding back-up membership base. After an aggressive nation-wide recruitment drive, SIMI has been picking cadres with educated and often technically qualified backgrounds. In Kerala, SIMI has set up an all-woman jehadi wing. Police say there is a trend of hideouts being located in Hindu localities and of operatives working with Hindu identities.

While the 2001 ban on SIMI 8212; the notification mentioned its 8216;8216;involvement in engineering communal riots and disruptive activities and supporting extremism/militancy8217;8217; 8212; evoked a support for the group from some political parties, the complicity and involvement of its cadres is now chronicled in the aftermath of scores of incidents and attacks, with a concentration in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

It8217;s not a cut and dry case against SIMI though. When Congress leader Salman Khurshid, defending SIMI against the ban, approached the Supreme Court, his arguments were:

a No reasons given for SIMI8217;s proscription

b No evidence or any link found so far to connect SIMI with any terrorist activity

c It is a cultural organisation.

d It has not so far been found indulging in any terrorist or anti-national activity.

Khurshid appeared in the Supreme Court for SIMI on July 6 but the petition was withdrawn after the apex court made it clear that the appeal against the ban should be first argued before the tribunal established for the purposes.

Defending his role, Khurshid says, 8216;8216;I would refuse a client only when I am personally satisfied that taking up the case would go against the ethics of the profession. A lawyer has to appear for an accused. It is the constitutional duty. A party and the government too cannot pre-judge an organisation.8217;8217;

But the pinning down of the outlawed group to a culture of violence has resulted in a see-saw swing in its fortunes in courtrooms across the country, specially in Mumbai. In January 2003, for instance, Mohammed Altaf, the main accused in the Ghatkopar blast, was deported from Dubai. But in July 2005, all the eight accused in the blast case, were acquitted by a POTA court due to lack of evidence. In dozens of other cases, where SIMI cadres have been detained for acts of terrorism, rioting and sedition, freedom and recidivism have been a short distance away.

This, police officials say, is typical of terrorist crime cases, where the evidence hinges on the testimony of a few witnesses who often turn hostile. The reason why, perhaps, the Mumbai Police have now invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against the LeT and SIMI cadres apprehended with RDX and explosives in the Aurangabad case.

Despite the group being proscribed and its activities stalled, SIMI8217;s influence has been on the ascendency as has been its recruitment and ability to raise funds from countries in the neighbourhood and in the Gulf.

The organisation, which was created in Aligarh in April 1977 and was originally meant to be a student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind JIH, now depicts the contours of a pan-Islamic network, linking groups operating in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Following the Mumbai blasts, the group now faces yet another crackdown on its hideouts and recruitment bases, just as it had five years ago when it was declared outlawed.

With inputs from R Venkatraman

TRIAL BY TERROR

February 14, 1998

Coimbatore bomb blasts

58 killed, more than 200 injured. Charge sheet names 166 persons including Peoples Democratic Leader and founder of banned outfit Islamic Sevak Sangh Abdul Nasser Madani and leaders of banned Islamic outfit Al-Umma S A Basha, Tajudden and Mohd Ansari

8226; Trial pending

December 13, 2001

Parliament Attack case 8212; 17 killed including five terrorists

8226; Four accused charge sheeted: Mohd Afzal, Shaukat Hussain Guru and his wife Navjot Sandhu alias Afsan Guru, S A R Gelani

8226; Trial court: Geelani, Shaukat and Afzal sentenced to death, Afsan gets 5 year RI

8226; High Court: acquits Geelani and Afsan, upholds death penalty of Afzal and Shaukat

8226; Supreme Court: Upholds Afzal8217;s death sentence, upholds acquittal of Geelani and Afsan, Shaukat gets 10 year RI

8226; Review petitions also dismissed. Curative petition filed by Shaukat pending in SC.

January 22, 2002

American Center attack, Kolkata
4 killed, 20 injured

Seven chargesheeted: Aftab Ansari, Jamiluddin Nasser, Musarat Hussain, Rehan Alam, Shakir Akhtar, Hasrat Alam and Adil Hasan 8212; were given death sentence on April 27, 2005

March 30, 2002

Suicide attack on Raghunath temple, Jammu

8226; Ten killed, 19 injured. Both terrorists killed in the attack.

September 24, 2002

Akshardham temple attack

33 killed, 81 injured

8226; 34 accused 8212; six arrested, 26 absconding, two killed during attack

8226; Three given death sentence on July 1, 2006: Chand Khan, Adam Seleman Ajmeri, Abdul Kayum Mohd Hussain Mansuri

8226; Mohd Salim Arif Sheikhsentenced for life.

8226; 10 year RI for Mufti Abdul Miya Yasim Miya Kadhri

8226; 5 year RI for Altaf Hussain Asghar Hussain Malik

November 14, 2002

Attack on Raghunath temple, Jammu

8226; 13 including two militants killed, 42 injured

May 22, 2005

Blasts at Liberty and Satyam Cinemas, Delhi

8226; One killed, 60 injured

8226; Chargesheet, filed on August 27, 2005, names India chief of Babbar Khalsa International Jagtar Singh Hawara and seven others 8212; Jagannath, Balwinder Singh, Jaspal, Vikas Sehgal, Yogender, Ajit Raj and Visan Lal

8226; Trial pending

October 29, 2005

Blasts at Sarojini Nagar and Paharganj markets and in a bus at Govindpuri

8226; 59 killed, 155 injured

8226; Filed on January 1, 2006, chargesheet in Sarojini Nagar blast names three 8212; Tariq Ahmed Dar, Ghulam Ahmed Khan and Farooq Ahmed

8226; On March 6, chargesheet in Govindpuri blast names Tariq Ahmed Dar and Rafiq Shah

8226; On March 18, chargesheet in Paharganj blast names Tari Ahmed Dar and Rafiq Shah

Dec 6, 2002

Mumbai Central blast

8226; 25 injured

Jan 28, 2003

Vili Parle blast outside railway station

8226; 20 injured

March 13, 2003

Mulund blast local train

8226; 11 dead, 70 injured

8226; Accused chargesheeted on July 19, 2003

8226; Saquib Nachan, Asib Mulla, Gulam Khotal, Mohammed Kamil, Farhaan Khot, Noor Mohammed Ansari, Anwar Ali Khan, Nadeem Paloba, Muzammil Ansari, Haroon, Rashid Lohar, Rashid Ansari, Adnan Mulla, Mohammed Sayyed Siddiqui, Areef Mulla, Dr Wahid Ansari and Arif Hussain Shaikh.

8226; Trial pending

August 25, 2003

Twin bomb blasts near Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazar, Mumbai

8226; 53 killed, 150 injured.

8226; Charge sheet filed against 6 accused on February 5, 2004. The accused are Sayed Mohd Hanif, his wife Fahimida and associates Arshat Ansari, Zahid Patni, Mohammed Hussain Batterywala, Mohammed Rizwan Ladoowala.

8226; Trial pending