[Reader-list] SIMI’s ’success’ is a result of our secular polity

[Pawan Durani]

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/sep/17guest.htm

http://thammayya.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/simis-success-is-a-result-of-our-secular-polity/

SIMI's 'success' is a result of our secular polity

*M R Venkatesh | *September 17, 2008 | 15:41 IST

*'In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace. The art of war is of
vital importance to the state. It is matter of life and death, a road either
to safety or to ruin. Hence under no circumstances can it be neglected.'� —
Tsun Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher*



The Students Islamic Movement of India, Wikipedia informs us, was formed in
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI — the
'liberation of India' from Western materialistic cultural influence and to
convert it into an Islamic society — makes it an enemy of the State of
India.

Wikipedia further points out that 'fears exist in government circles that
SIMI has been penetrated by al Qaeda. It goes on to add that it is suspected
that SIMI after being banned by the Government of India is now also
operating under a different name of Indian Majahideen, an outfit that has
taken responsibility for the successive blasts in India over the past
several months.' Yet SIMI remains virtually un-debated by the polity and the
intelligentsia of the country.�

Contrary to the popular belief that SIMI is run by uneducated, misdirected
and poor Muslim youth, readers may be surprised at the fact that SIMI's
founding president, Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi, is a professor of
journalism and public relations at the Western Illinois University. And with
the spate of terror mails sent by hacking Wi-Fi connections, it seems that
SIMI is even to this day run by the educated, privileged and the moneyed.

Despite such repeated terror attempts, SIMI is largely an unknown commodity
in India, especially to the common man. What are its objectives? What are
its guiding philosophies? How does it operate and what makes it the
centrifugal force of terrorism in India? Crucially, what makes it
devastating despite a ban by the central government?

The answers to all these questions are not difficult and need not be a
subject matter of speculation as these are in the public domain. Yet, some
preliminary understanding of SIMI provides the text to the polity that
intellectually facilitates its existence, sustains its growth and shields it
from the reach of law, all of which collectively make SIMI a potent force in
the Indian context.

*SIMI — a fact file*

Basic research about SIMI reveals something stunning as well as chilling.
SIMI believes in leading human life on the basis of the Quran as well as
propagation of Islam in India. While there is nothing wrong about these two
objectives, as these are guaranteed by the Constitution, the third — jihad
for the cause of Islam — makes it a potent terrorist organisation.

SIMI does not believe in a nation-state. To amplify further, SIMI's ultimate
aim is to have an Islamic caliphate with an Islamic India an integral part
of such an arrangement. And to achieve this, SIMI sees secular, democratic
modern India as a hurdle. Yet it is the secular cabal that acts as a
cheerleader for SIMI!

Consequently, it does not believe in the concept of Indian nation, culture
and values. And to achieve its self-professed goal, SIMI seeks to wage a
low-intensity war against the Government of India so as to liquidate the
very concept of India. In this attempt, SIMI seeks to utilise the youth in
the propagation of Islam and also to mobilise support for jihad and
establish a Shariat-based Islamic rule in India through *Islami Inqilab.*

In effect, whatever it may be christened or defined by the secular polity in
India, SIMI is basically a fundamentalist organisation that not only rejects
other beliefs, ideals, as well as other 'anti-Islamic cultures', it in fact
seeks to systematically eliminate them. Ideologically, SIMI maintains that
the concepts of secularism, democracy and nationalism, keystones of the
Indian Constitution, are antithetical to Islam.

Parallel to its rejection of secularism, democracy and nationalism is its
oft-repeated objective of restoration of the 'caliphate', emphasis on *ummah
* and the need for jihad to establish the supremacy of Islam. Further, it
reveres Osama bin Laden while it does not believe that Jammu and Kashmir to
be an integral part of India.

SIMI is also reported to get generous financial assistance from the World
Assembly of Muslim Youth, Riyadh, the International Islamic Federation of
Students' Organisations in Kuwait, and of course the dreaded ISI of
Pakistan. Further, SIMI gets operational and training assistance from the
Jamaat-e-Islam units in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen,
and the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al Islami Bangladesh.

And in the process, SIMI is at war with India. And in this war SIMI gets all
the funding, training as well as strategic help from various countries. If
Osama provides it ideological inspiration, Pakistan and others provide it
strategic, financial and military support, overtly or covertly.

*But what about support within India?*

While it may be easier to blame others, especially in the neighbourhood, the
fact of the matter is that the success of SIMI lies exclusively within
India. It is patently unjust to blame an entire community. Quite the
contrary, the rise and success of SIMI is a direct product of our secular
polity and the manner in which successive governments have handled this
convoluted yet crucial issue.

It may be recalled that SIMI was first banned — the first and preliminary
steps at containing�it — by the then National Democratic Alliance government
on September 27, 2001, immediately following the terror attacks in the US on
September 11, 2001. This ban remained till September 27, 2003. In this
interregnum, several prosecutions were launched against its members under
the provisions of the now repealed Prevention Of Terrorism Act.

The second ban, in effect the extension of the first, was between September
27, 2003 and September 27, 2005. The government of India had effected a
third ban on SIMI from February 8, 2006. Therefore SIMI was in effect
legally in existence between September 28, 2005, and February 7, 2006.

The third ban on SIMI was lifted by Delhi high court tribunal on August 5,
2008, which has since been stayed by the Supreme Court. 'Material given by
the home ministry is insufficient, so ban cannot be continued,' Justice
Geeta Mittal, a sitting Delhi high court judge, had said while lifting the
ban. Obviously, the hydraulic power of the secular polity, with a proven
soft corner to SIMI, had its desired effect on our bureaucracy.

But how did secular India react to all these acts of SIMI? Consider this:

Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav said the ban on SIMI was wrong in
the first place.

Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said the order was "no setback" to the
government and added, "Wherever terrorist attacks have taken place in the
recent past — Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat — it is the state
governments that are investigating the matter. It is their responsibility to
submit the evidence against SIMI to the central government," implying that
it was the state government that needs to act against SIMI, not the central
government.

Salman Khurshid, president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress committee, was the
counsel defending SIMI in the high court and in the Supreme Court against
the ban.

Others, including the Communists, have ensured that their responses are
either muted or guarded, lest they be branded as communalists by others in
the polity.

With such wonderful local support, why them blame others including the ISI?
The issue is not of the terrorists and their activity. Rather it is
something quite serious that points out to the serious drift in our national
polity and our skewed concept of secularism.

It may be noted that while our secular polity was explicitly exonerating
SIMI, a study by the Institute of Conflict Management headed by K P S Gill,
had clearly listed over 100 terror incidents from 2000 to 2008 which
involves SIMI. Yet, such blatant and patent support to SIMI by our polity is
inexplicable.

Substantiating the finding of this institute, even a spokesperson of the
Indian government told the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal held in
New Delhi that contrary to notions that SIMI's activities declined following
its ban, the organisation "had stepped up its subversive activities and was
involved in almost all major explosions, communal violence and circulation
of inflammatory material across the country." And it is this group that the
secular polity virtually exonerates without any remorse!

Let us not make any mistake — we are amidst a war, a war with a faceless
enemy. But it is not the only advantage that our enemy has. As explained
above, the approach of our polity rationalises, legalises and sanctifies
terrorism in India. It is this attitude of the secular polity makes the
faceless enemy that much potent. It is time that we the ordinary people
realised this simple fact.