NEW DELHI: The government on Monday extended the ban imposed on terrorist group Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) for five years for its involvement in fomenting terrorism and disturbing peace and communal harmony in the country.
In a post on ‘X’, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that bolstering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of zero tolerance against terrorism, SIMI has been declared an ‘Unlawful Association’ for a further period of five years under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The SIMI was first banned in 2001 when the Atal Bihar Vajpayee government was in power and since then the ban has been extended every five years.
“The SIMI has been found involved in fomenting terrorism, disturbing peace and communal harmony to threaten the sovereignty, security and integrity of Bharat,” Shah said.
In a notification, the Union Home Ministry said the SIMI has been continuing its subversive activities and re-organising its activists who are still absconding; The group is disrupting the secular fabric of the country by polluting the minds of the people by creating communal, disharmony, propagating anti-national sentiments and escalating secessionism by supporting militancy and undertaking activities which are prejudicial to the integrity and security of the country, the notification said.
SIMI was founded in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh on April 25, 1977. The SIMI has declared Jihad against India, the aim of which is to establish Dar-ul-Islam (land of Islam) by converting everyone to Islam.
The government describes it as a terrorist organisation, and banned it in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. The ban was lifted in August 2008 by a special tribunal, but was reinstated by KG Balakrishnan, then Chief Justice, on 6 August 2008 on national security grounds. In February 2019, the government extended ban on SIMI for a period of five more years UAPA.