M A I N   N E W S

Organisation had links with Laden
Tribune News Service and PTI

New Delhi, September 28
The Centre tonight asserted it had “enough evidence” to link banned radical outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) to terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida group.

Asking people to shun violence and justifying the ban on the SIMI, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said the aggrieved persons should seek justice from special tribunal, even as the government in a countrywide crackdown arrested over 240 SIMI activists, including its national president Dr Shahid Badar Falah.

“I do not want to go into the details, but there is a system in the country. They (SIMI) can appeal in the tribunal and revert the order,” Mr Vajpayee told a large gathering of Muslims at his residence this evening.

In simultaneous raids in 11 different states across the country, several of SIMI offices, including their headquarters in Delhi, were sealed and a large number of documents and propaganda materials were seized.

“The banning of SIMI was not a knee-jerk reaction. We had been watching the activities of the organisation closely for the past several months,” Union Home Secretary Mr Kamal Pande told newspersons tonight.

“Material received from the state governments were carefully examined and the opinion of Ministry of Law was also obtained. In addition to this, the matter was discussed with the representatives of various state governments.

He said the evidence and material available with the Central and several state governments clearly indicated that SIMI’s objective was “governing of human life on the basis of Quran, propagation of Islam, “jehad” (religious war) for the cause of Islam and destruction of nationalism and establishment of Islamic rule or caliphate.”

The Home Secretary said on perusal of the evidence it was felt that if the organisation was not banned immediately it would get an opportunity to “escalate secessionism and support militancy, disrupt the secular fabric of the country by polluting the minds of the people and creating communal harmony, propagate anti-national sentiments, instigate riots in a bid to win over the Muslims to its hard-line fundamentalist and anti-national approach.”

Following the imposition of ban, at least 241 SIMI activists have been arrested and their offices, including its headquarters in Delhi, zonal and district offices in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

A number of documents including propaganda material, pamphlets, booklets, audiocassettes, video cassettes and CDs, etc had been seized by the police in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, he said.

The Home Secretary pointed out that in accordance with Section 4 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Central Government will, within 30 days of the publication of the notification, refer the notification to the tribunal for the purpose of adjudicating whether or not there is sufficient cause for declaring the association unlawful.

Ban Lashkar, Hizbul, JeM, Centre tells J&K

New Delhi, September 28
The Centre has asked the Jammu and Kashmir Government to ban Pakistan-backed terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Home Secretary Kamal Pande said tonight.

He was answering to a question as to why these terrorist groups had not been so far banned when radical organisations like the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was declared unlawful by the Centre.

“We have written to the state government to ban the three terrorist organisations operating in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere”, Mr Pande said. PTI

Withdraw ban, says Mulayam

Lucknow, September 28
Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav today demanded immediate withdrawal of the ban on the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) till an all-party meeting ‘okayed’ the Centre’s decision after going through the evidence of the organisation’s involvement in anti-national activities.

“Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee should convene an all-party meeting on the issue and the Home Minister should disclose all the evidences and the state government’s report on the anti-national activities of SIMI; only then the ban should be imposed on them,” former Defence Minister told newspersons here.

“We just cannot implicate innocent ones without a proper inquiry and if anything was found against them, the SP will be the first to support the ban,” he added.

Asked about the public statements of the SIMI office-bearers against the Constitution, Mr Yadav said, “the inquiry should cover this aspect also”. He said the ban was a conspiracy to create tension and fear among the people in view of the coming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

“Both the BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state had failed to solve the people’s problems... They were hatching such conspiracy to divert the attention of the masses,” he said.

The SP supremo said if the Centre justified the ban on the SIMI for anti-national activities, it should also ban outfits such as the Shiv Sena, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal who were more dangerous to society. UNI

Lopsided and ill-timed: Cong

New Delhi, September 28
The Congress today termed as “lop-sided and ill-timed” the government’s decision to impose a ban on Students Islamic Movement in India (SIMI) and said the “naked” attempt to fan communal discord was not going to help the BJP in the next Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

“Apart from being lop-sided, the action on SIMI is ill-timed....We are sure that this naked attempt to fan communal discord is not going to help the BJP in UP”, party spokesman S. Jaipal Reddy told reporters.

Assailing the decision, Mr Reddy said just when the international environment was exceptionally tense, it was not in the national interest to take any steps that would disturb the domestic scene.

The Congress was opposed to fundamentalism of any and every religious group, he said. PTI

No SIMI activists on campus: JMI
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 28
The Jamia authorities have denied the presence of activists belonging to the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) on the campus and have dismissed such rumours as “false propaganda”.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range), Amod Kanth told TNS that none of the four SIMI activists, including its president, Shahid Badr arrested from Zakir Nagar on Thursday night had any connection with the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI).

Pro Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of JMI, M.N.A. Chaudhary denied the arrest of any of the SIMI activist in Jamia. While confirming the deployment of security personnel in Tikona Park and Okhla, the Registrar said that the reported presence of the SIMI activists on the campus was nothing but false propaganda. “I attended the Friday prayers at the university mosque where students turn up in large numbers. It went off peacefully and nobody uttered a word. We do not fear any tension or violence. We need to be cautious and alert about the designs of the enemy,” he said.

Former Vice-Chancellor of Jamia and noted historian, Professor Mushirul Hasan’s views on the presence of SIMI activists are no different. “I don’t think SIMI has a presence in Jamia. Why would the ban affect Jamia?”

Professor Mohd. Ishtiaq, Provost of Jamia said the authorities raided the boys hostels on Thursday night but did not find any link between the hostellers and SIMI.

Mr Kanth said the police had initiated discussions with the Vice-Chancellor, the Jamia authorities and other representatives from Okhla and Zakir Nagar on Friday to get feedback on police action in Zakir Nagar. “We are doubly sure that SIMI does not have the support of either the university authorities or the local residents. In fact, they were not aware of the existence of the national headquarters of SIMI in Zakir Nagar.”

Sources in the Jamia Enclave where the Vice-Chancellor lives said the situation was under control and there is no unrest. They confirmed that the police was deployed only as a precautionary measure.

Shams Khwaja, convener of the Muslim Political Power Group said about thirty per cent of the students of Jamia were influenced by SIMI. He said SIMI leaders had been addressing students from time to time on the campus.