Pune The New Hot Bed For SIMI Terror Activities

Investigations into the Mumbai train blasts and subsequent intelligence reports have revealed  that banned organization Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is slowly but surely spreading  its wings in the city of Pune which is now emerging as a nerve centre for the organization's  activities.
 
 
 According to intelligence reports, SIMI activists from all over the country use the city as a  transit point and indoctrination centre. There are also reports that there is free funding for the organization's activities in the city and its surrounding areas.
 
 What's disturbing to note is that its not just Mumbai and Pune but the nexus is now spreading to  smaller cities of Maharashtra as well. Security officials investigating a recent encounter  discovered the a gun-wielding jihadi was a 19-year-old boy from Kolhapur who had become a Hizbul Mujahideen operative after passing through several madrasas near Kolhapur and in Gujarat.
 
 Security agencies have acknowledged the presence of "sleeper cells" in Maharashtra, comprising young men drawn from the local population, but radicalized into a murderous bent.
 
 Not surprisingly, SIMI's presence in Maharashtra at Aurangabad, parts of Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Mumbra, Solapur, Pune, Kolhapur and Malegaon is in line with the presence of large Muslim pockets that have figured in Maharashtra's terror network.
 
 
 After the serial blasts in Mumbai, the Pune police have launched an intensive combing operation to weed out SIMI activists. A large number of people have been questioned since the blast. However, there is no official confirmation. The police have also increased their vigil on the activities of the 100 odd madarsas in the city.
 
 According to the police, they have been keeping a close watch on SIMI's activities in Pune since the 2001 riots but despite this, the numbers have been growing alarmingly.
 
 The police is also on high alert following intelligence reports that terrorists plan to create disturbances in Pune during the 10-day Ganesh Festivals. The Pune police has had an interaction with nearly 1000 Ganesh Mandals in the city and have asked people to be vigilant during the festival.