The sources of funding for SIMI

‘Donations, goatskin sale funded SIMI’

Rakesh K Singh | New Delhi

Zakat (donation) by devotees and the money collected from the sale of goatskin offered at mosques during the celebration of Bakr-Eid are major sources of terror funding for the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India.

The confessional statements of SIMI chief Safdar Nagori and a senior commander of the outfit, Aamil Parvaz, have revealed that the outfit responsible for several terror blasts across the country also received significant contributions from its former members based in the Gulf.

The money received from the Gulf has particularly been used by former ansars (full-time members) of SIMI, mainly for meeting litigation expenses, top SIMI commander Aamil Parwaz told interrogators while providing details about the finances of the outfit.

Parwaz also told the officials that the funds were also used by the Shaheen Force, a front of SIMI, to attract children into its fold with a view to catching them young for terror activities. The children and relatives of SIMI members were “activated” for the Shaheen Force which, in turn, would bring their friends into the fold of the front. Religious books and sweets were distributed among the members of the front. “Besides, Quranic teachings were also recited on occasions,” Parwaz told the interrogators and claimed that the front was inactivated after the ban on SIMI.

The revelation came during the interrogation of Parwaz by the Madhya Pradesh police earlier this year. Parwaz is currently under the custody of Gujarat police for interrogation into the Ahmedabad serial blasts.

During his interrogation by the MP police and intelligence sleuths, Nagori revealed that collection of funds prior to the ban on the outfit was done in a “normal” manner. After the ban, however, the outfit members collected donations from other members and sympathisers at the local level. After deducting the expenses for local activities, the remaining amount was sent to the treasurer of the outfit.

Parwaz, 34, also told the interrogators that SIMI finances were also strengthened by donations from well-off members of the community, including from Manzoor of Pakeeza Collections of Indore, owners of Mayur Hospital and Balwas Hotel of Bhopal. Other influential community members who knowingly contributed to SIMI included Hazi Israr, Abdul Rais and the owners of Madhumilan Talkies of Indore.

In his confessional statement, Parwaz also told the investigators that these community members contributed despite the knowledge that SIMI was a banned outfit under the law.

The interrogation report of Parwaz, classified as top secret, also reveals the mobile telephone numbers used by the top SIMI commanders. While Parwaz largely operated from his cellular phone (number 9755121736), Safdar Nagori used number 9907788584 and Kamruddin operated through his connection (number 9907788564). The input is expected to be analysed by the Gujarat police to further unravel the perpetrators behind the Ahmedabad serial blasts, which had killed over 50 persons and left more than 100 injured.

SIMI Women giving terror lessons to Muslim children in Nagpur

Women giving terror lessons in Nagpur
19 Jun 2008, 0425 hrs IST, Soumittra S Bose ,TNN

NAGPUR: They are from the weaker sex but are working to strengthen the terror network, right here in Nagpur.

And it’s children, as tender as 5 to 15 years old, whom they are looking to mould into subversive agents of tomorrow.

Local intelligence agencies have learned that woman sleeper cells of banned terror outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) are consolidating Shaheen Force, the wing of school children, and Tehreek Tulba-e-Arabiya, the movement of the students of Arabic, both off-shoots of SIMI, in the city.

Interrogation of arrested senior Simi members revealed such tactics all over the country. It is learnt that sleeper cells comprising women are active near Kidwai ground in Pachpaoli, Timki and Mominpura area since some time now, focussing on creating a network among students.

City police have already started working on the input that women working for SIMI are active in different educational institutions of the city as teachers. Apart from strengthening the base of SIMI by raising recruits in schools and madrassas, woman sleeper cells also encourage students to learn Urdu and follow the ideologies of Islamic hardliners and Jehadi theories.

The students are also motivated through Jehadi literature. Once trained in theory, the students are exposed to ‘atrocities’ on Muslims and inflammatory lectures, shown provocative movies and clippings of media coverage and also, at times, eye-witnesses.

“They imbibe Jehadi thoughts in impressionable brains and then handpick the able ones to be sent for training in explosives and arms and ammunition in camps across the border,” said a source.

City police had got an inkling of woman sleeper cells and Shaheen Force in the city during the custodial interrogation of top SIMI functionary Dr Abrar Arif.

Revealed: How SIMI works

Revealed: How SIMI works
Vicky Nanjappa, June 05, 2008

The Students Islamic Movement of India, which was outlawed in 2001, is back in the news following last November’s blasts in Uttar Pradesh and last month’s Jaipur terror attack.

The Jaipur blasts reveal that SIMI is still active, and the recent spate of arrests in Bangalore and Indore have not deterred the organisation. According to Intelligence Bureau sources, SIMI provides logistical support to the Pakistan-based Laskhar-e-Tayiba and the Harkat-ul-Jihadi.

An IB dossier on the organisation indicates that SIMI split into two in 2006. The dossier was prepared following the interrogation of SIMI General Secretary Safdar Nagori, who was arrested on March 26 in Indore. It says SIMI, which had an active membership of 400 members across the country, split into two groups of 300 and 100 each.

Despite the split and the spate of arrests in early 2008, IB sources say the group has about 250 active members in various parts of the country. Security agencies had believed the arrest of around 20 SIMI activists including Nagori, P A Shibli (secretary general) and Yahya Kamakutty (president, Karnataka zone) would bring SIMI to heel.

The split showed up serious ideological differences between the two factions. According to Nagori’s confession, he developed differences with Dr Shahid Badr Falahi, SIMI’s former president, over the organisation’s political role. He also had differences with current SIMI president Misba-ul-Islam. Nagori advocated an aggressive approach while Misba-ul-Islam argued for a more moderate one.

To sort out the dispute, a meeting was held at Ujjain on July 6, 2006. At the meeting several members voiced their support for Nagori and broke away to form a separate outfit.

Members of the Misba-ul-Islam faction have gone underground, but there are no reports this outfit is involved in terrorism. On the other hand, the Nagori faction tied up with Lashkar and Harkat and helped those organisations undertake terror attacks.
Nagori claimed he even organised an all women unit, the Shaheen Force. During his interrogation, he revealed he had recruited 200 women.

‘We decided on recruiting women as we felt they were more reliable,’ he told his interrogators. He said the women were told to identify young Muslim youth and brainwash them into taking up jihad. Detectives feel the Shaheen Force could have played a role in both the UP and Jaipur blasts.

Nagori revealed that the women would train the youth in stages. The youth are first convinced that they need to fight for their religion. They are then handed over provocative audio/video clippings which selectively depict the atrocities being committed on Muslims by the West and Israel in Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, Algeria, and Bosnia. Apart from this they are made to watch documentaries which highlight incidents in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Ayodhya. The women, according to Nagori, are told to concentrate on the Gujarat riots while speaking to the likely recruits.

Once the young men are convinced to take the jihadi path, the role of the Shaheen Force ends. The youth are handed over to their male counterparts for training in arms and explosives.