JEDDAH, 2 October - Angered by the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), speakers in an informal meeting held here late Saturday, observed that the government should have first produced evidence of the group's "anti-national activities" before taking the extreme step.
They said that the group was singled out for a ban because it had "strongly opposed and blocked the efforts to construct a temple at the demolished Babri Mosque site in Ayodhya." The move was also aimed at terrifying other Muslim organizations, taking advantage of the current anti-terrorism wave.
Dr. Syed Ali Mehmood of King Abdul Aziz University said: "Linking SIMI with terrorism is a vicious BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) conspiracy to protect Sangh Parivar and its allies who are real terrorists. SIMI, established in 1977, has been a peaceful organization without any criminal record." Similar sentiments were echoed by Aleem Khan Falki - a social activist and writer: "Muslims must unite and fight against fascism of the RSS. BJP is trying to distance the Muslims from the national mainstream and its Hindu majority. Banning SIMI is a slap on the face of democracy. All the secular-minded people must unite and thwart the BJP move."
Khan further said, "It's shameful as well as shocking that those proven guilty by the Justice Krishna Commission, probing Bombay riots, are walking free and an innocent Muslim group has been banned. Everything has been done keeping in mind the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections."
A sense of dismay has engulfed the whole minority with this latest development said Dr. Ashfaq Maniar of King Abdul Aziz University Hospital. He further said: "It's a move to hit the morale of the minorities. It's a matter of concern for every Indian that innocent citizens are arrested, interrogated and accused of baseless allegations."
An engineer by profession, Muhammad Ishaq said: "BJP has violated the democratic norms by killing innocent citizens and accusing SIMI without any concrete evidence."
He was also critical of the BJP and said that the "BJP is pursuing its hidden agenda by terrorizing the minorities. It's the responsibility of the whole Ummah to guide the youths so that they could fight against real terrorists." Most of the speakers called the ban on SIMI as undemocratic. Nayeem Javed, said: "The ban is a mockery of the constitution."
Another vocal critic Nayeemullah Sharif, a former member of the Indian International School-Jeddah's managing committee, said: "Terrorist parties like Bajran Dal and Shiv Sena are under the protection of the BJP. The move to ban SIMI is meant to harass the minorities."
The speakers were also sore at the fact that the government did not take opposition parties into confidence before imposing the ban that too at a time when the US crisis is looming large over the country. General Secretary of Khak-e-Taiba Trust Siadat Ali Khan said: "It's timidity on the part of the BJP to take advantage of the current world events and ban a Muslim organization. Muslims will never disintegrate by such actions."
One of the speakers warned such anti-Muslim acts can sow seeds of disintegration in India. Abdul Qayyum, an engineer at the Jeddah Industrial City, said: "The country's integrity will be at stake if the BJP continues to rule for another year or two."
