SIMI eyes a bigger role in India, wants to make its presence felt online

Two persons who were picked up from the funeral of Salahuddin Ahmed the former chief of the Students Islamic Movement of India (

) has got the agencies interested and are probing the launch of their new outfit known as the electronic warfare group.

Contrary to the claims made by the Hyderabad police that they were on their way to Afghanistan, the Intelligence Bureau says that these two were a part of ten youth from Maharashtra who were looking to create an online medium to spread the agenda of the SIMI.

SIMI eager to spread its wings online

Muddasar a garment shop owner in Omerkhed and Tariq a student have been part of the SIMI since 2009. They had decided on their own to start an online group of like minded members and hence came up with the Electronic Warfare Group which is not fully functional as yet. The intent was to create a social networking group so as to connect like minded persons and spread the agenda of the SIMI which they felt was dying.

The fact that they were well connected with Mansoor Pheerbhouy the Indian Mujahideen techie who is under arrest today gave them the idea to set up such a network. Moreover bigger terror groups have relied heavily on the social media to carry out recruitments and also spread propaganda. What the duo were attempting to was meet with some persons in Hyderabad and spread the word around about this new medium through which they could communicate.

SIMI wants a bigger role in India

The fact that the SIMI allies with the Al-Qaeda which announced its operations in the sub continent is interesting. The SIMI has been given the role of a logistic provider and has been told to stick only to that. However many in the SIMI feel that they need to play a larger role in this and hence decided to start a wing of their own so that they are ready with a major force once the Al-Qaeda commences its operations.

The SIMI is not very active on the social media at the moment. Through such groups with aliases they sought to popularise the movement and also fight for that vacant spot on Indian soil which has been created after the fall of the Indian Mujahideen to a large extent.

SIMI inspired by ISIS

Muddasar and Tariq are a group of around 10 to 15 members all hailing from Maharashtra. They have been watching the youth who left to join the ISIS and realised that all this propaganda was taking place online. This gave them the enthusiasm to start such a network and they were looking to other states for support.

The only way that the Al-Qaeda has been able to communicate to select cadres in India is through the Al-Shabab. The SIMI wanted to fill in this vacuum and create a dedicated platform online to say and also do more. The duo says that the Al-Qaeda concept has not caught on and what they intended to do was popularise it online.

We wanted to spread the word around and make it a dedicated platform to convey the message and in the bargain lure more persons into our fold. Moreover we also wanted to share information and literature of Al-Qaeda leaders who have been repeatedly calling on the Indians to join them, the duo also said during their questioning.