From the Mumbai blasts to the recent Ahmedabad serial attacks, the Home Ministry and various police forces have been holding the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) responsible for the terroist actions, while it fails to prove its case against the outfit in a court which lifted the ban imposed on the organisation.

While the UPA government is attacked by the Bharatiya Janata Party for being soft on terror, it fails to stand the litmus test.

A specially designated tribunal of the Delhi High Court headed by Justice Geeta Mittal lifted the ban against SIMI as the government failed to establish any terror link. The only evidence that the Home Ministry officials could present before the tribunal against SIMI was from the Malegaon blasts, which was rejected.

There was no new evidence submitted by the government against the SIMI to justify the extension of the ban, said a law officer.

Slap on the Govt

"This verdict is slap on the face of the government. There is no criminal case against SIMI but after 2001, all cases related to terrorism and blasts were attributed to it by the government," said SIMI lawyer Mobin Akhtar.
Though the Home Ministry late last night termed it as a 'technical' error, it would have do more than enough to prove its worth in India's fight against terror. The Home Ministry said that it would challenge the verdict in Supreme Court.

Ministry spokesperson Onkar Kedia said that the tribunal would not have confirmed the ban on technical grounds.

"The Home Ministry, intelligence sleuths and cops responsible for such a lapse should be sacked," remarked an intelligence officer against his own brethren.

"It raises questions on the seriousness with which the ministry officials had prepared their case against SIMI, which has been painted as the face of terror in the country," the officer added.  

Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal after the Vanaras terror attack on the Sankat Mochan temple, last year, "This is the work of organisations like SIMI to destabilise the country."

In fact, National Security Advisor M K Naraynan has gone a step a further and blamed Pakistan's ISI and terror organisations backed by it for strikes against the country. "If the Home Ministry cannot convince a court in New Delhi against suspect outfits like SIMI, how can it prove its case against Pakistan," said a senior officers.

But with the Home Ministry failing to provide any evidence against SIMI in all these years, serious questions have arisen on the investigations being carried out by different state police forces in various blasts that have rocked the country in the past few years.

"With the Home ministry presenting evidences from only one case that happened about two years ago, the question arises that whether the investigating agencies have made any progress at all in the blasts that have taken place after the 2006 Malegaon blasts," said a UP Police officer.

Security expert Ajay Sawhney said, "The SIMI would now become over ground and they would be allowed to carry out their activities like fund raising, recruitment and preaching with out any obstructions from the security agencies."

The issue also takes a political turn as saffron organisations are raising the ante against the UPA government.
BJP leader L K Advani blamed the government for being 'soft on terror' after the recent Ahmedabad blasts.

Recent bomb blasts in India
July 2008: A string of synchronised bomb blasts shook Ahmedabad killing 46 people
July 2008: A string of nine synchronised bomb blasts shook the IT hub during the busy lunch hour, leaving two killed and injuring 12 others - a chilling reminder of the over two year old terror attack at the Indian Institute of Sciences
May 2008: Eight blasts rock Jaipur in a span of 12 minutes leaving 65 dead and over 150 injured
January 2008: Terrorist attack on Central Reserve Police Force camp in Rampur kills eight
October 2007: 2 killed in a blast inside Ajmer Sharif shrine during Ramadan, in Rajasthan
August 2007: 32 dead, 35 hurt in Hyderabad 'terror' strike
May 2007: A bomb at Mecca mosque in Hyderabad kills 11 people
February 2007: Two bombs explode aboard in Samjhauta Express from India to Pakistan, burning to death at least 66 passengers, most of them Pakistanis
September 2006: Thirty-eight people were killed and over 100 injured in three nearly simultaneous blasts, including one in a mosque, in communally sensitive Malegaon town of Maharashtra
July 2006: Seven bomb blasts occurred in a period of 11 minutes on Mumbai's Suburban Railway. A total of 209 people lost their lives and over 700 were injured in the attacks
April 2006: Fourteen people, including a woman and a girl, were injured in two explosions inside the Jama Masjid in the old quarters of Delhi after evening prayers on a Friday. Low-intensity crude bombs were used
March 2006: Three bombs ripped through the holy city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, killing at least 28 people and injuring 62 others in a crowded temple and a railway station.  The first blast occurred inside Sankat Mochan temple adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Minutes later, another bomb went off in Cantonment railway station