How Indian Mujahideen is using Modi's rise to restore ties with SIMI

by Subhajit Sengupta New Delhi: Till early this year, Nimbus used to be the favourite chat room for Indian Mujahideen operatives. But with the arrest of almost the entire top leadership, including current IM head Tehseen Akhtar aka Monu and the LeT-trained Pakistani import Waqas, Pakistani handlers have gone back to the drawing board. Sources in the agencies tracking these operators say ‘Paltalk’ could be the current favourite social network to strategize with young minds. The modus operandi is simple: tap the ‘talents’ via Facebook, develop close links and then move them to a relatively secure and anonymous chat room. [caption id=“attachment_1385989” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image used for representational purposes. Agencies.[/caption] But according to the interrogation of Monu by the Special Cell of Delhi police, while the top IM leadership based out of Pakistan is exploiting the latest technology to remain in the shadows, they are also looking at a 1977-born organization to replenish their depleted human resource base. Iqbal and Riaz Bhatkal, with the active assistance of the ISI, are now trying woo the hardline faction of the SIMI once again. Tauqeer or Abdul Subhan Qureshi is the man in demand. After a successful collaboration for the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts, where 21 low intensity blasts took place within 70 minutes, killing 56 people, the two had split. The reason for the break-up, according to the disclosure statements of some of the arrested SIMI leaders, was ideological. While the ideologically pure SIMI operatives wanted to join the jihad in Afghanistan and later Syria, Pakistan-based IM handlers wanted them to target the Indian establishment. Though Riaz and Iqbal never really said no to their demand, they would also not facilitate their movement to those lands of ‘holy wars’. Every time the question would come, these operatives would be asked to prove their mettle in India first. In fact, the Indian Mujahideen too have split in Pakistan on similar grounds. The intelligence agencies suggest that the Azamgarh module of Mirza Shahdab Baig, Bada Sajid and Amir Reza Khan (all based out of Pakistan) have split leaving Iqbal and his younger brother Riyaz Bhatkal fighting the cause of the ISI. Sources indicate money coming in from the Pakistani handlers was one of the probable reasons for the split. While Bada Sajid and Amir Reza wanted it to be channelized towards the jihad in Afghanistan and Syria, Riaz and Iqbal cornered the lion’s share for their India operations. But the IM is now trying to build bridges with the SIMI. Agencies seem to have unearthed an undergoing effort to tap into the 20,000-odd volunteer support of SIMI who have a presence in almost all the districts of the country. And here lies the modus operandi: Riaz is using the rise of Narendra Modi and his probable ascent to the prime minister’s chair as the bait to get Tauqeer into the act. Depending once again on the age old philosophy of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ to end this six-year long break-up. Tauqeer heads the hardline faction which successfully executed the Patna blast at Narendra Modi’s rally. The entire operation, according a senior anti-terror officer, was planned by the ‘Black Beauty’ module based out of Ranchi. Hyder Ali a hard core SIMI operative, is called Black Beauty for his complexion. In fact, the NIA has declared cash reward on him. In the SIMI hierarchy Hyder Ali reported to Omer Siddiqui, who, in turn, would lead higher up in the order, which finally reaches to Tauqeer. The disclosure of Tehsin Akhtar (Monu) who was with Hyder Ali days ahead of the Patna blast indicates that Tauqeer not only was in the know of the operation but also gave his nod to it. Interestingly, another hardcore SIMI operative Abu Faisal alias ‘Doctor’ was also out at large around the time of Patna blast. He had escaped from Khandwa prison of Madhya Pradesh with six others on 2 October and was caught only around the last week of December. Sources say the investigators feel he too could have had a hand in the operation. This is the reason why special cell of Delhi police got the all the senior leaders of SIMI to their Lodhi road office couple of weeks ago. From the former general secretary of the SIMI, Safdar Nagori, from the custody of Gujarat to Abu Faisal from MP, all were brought to confront with the senior IM operatives already in their custody. The mission it seems is to catch Hyder Ali (who  unconfirmed sources say has fled to Pakistan), and of course, Tauqeer. The fear is Riaz Bhatkal would be using the rise of Narendra Modi, someone who is seen as a common target of all the hardline Islamic terror organizations, to restructure the indigenous terror machinery. Their hatred for the man can be best understood probably from the NIA chargesheet of the IM (Firstpost is in possession of it) where they have traced the birth of the outfit to the Gujarat riots post the 2002 Godhra train burning incident. It said the group ‘was formed in or around the end of the year 2003 after a group of certain ultra radicalized Muslim youth segregated themselves from SIMI in the aftermath of the communal mobilization caused due to factors like Babri Masjid indicident (1992) and the riots of Gujarat after the Godhra incident (2002).’ If we look at the terror activities of banned Students Islamic Movement of India over the years, there is only one link. The last suspected SIMI aided blast was in Ahmedabad in 2008 and after a breather of six years, the Patna blast of 2013. No prizes for guessing that the only link between the two is the man who is the front runner to be the prime minister of the country. This is why Riaz is hopeful and Indian anti-terror agencies are apprehensive.