Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai (SP)

Mumbai, Jul 14: Indian Mujahideen (IM), an indigenous organization, which is thought to be getting liberal aid from across the borders, appears to have fine-tuned its operations. The police believe that the serial blasts in the metro are a challenge posed by IM, which is accused of getting involved with terror activities in the country, to the police department.

IM, thought to have been set up by the sympathizers of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) after the latter was banned, has been engaged in disruptive activities in the country since the last some years. Officials feel that IM seems to have got encouraged from the fact that the earlier cases of blasts involving this organization in Varanasi, Delhi, and Pune, have remained unresolved. The IM appears to have been emboldened by its success in setting off improvised explosive devices in German Bakery Pune,  apart from Delhi and Varanasi, they analyze. Only the Ahmedabad police had succeeded in hunting down the IM operatives involved with the blasts there, although even there, top leaders like Abdul Subhan Qureshi, succeeded in remaining elusive. The fact that most of the arrested men in this case were from Uttar Pradesh, has given a hint that the IM may be actively garnering support from youth of that state.

IM, it is believed, is controlled by its top ranking operatives including Riaz Bhatkal and his elder brother, Iqbal Bhatkal, who are said to be operating from Karachi. Although Chota Rajan gang claimed that Riaz Bhatkal was eliminated early this year, the information could not be conclusively confirmed.

The policemen claim that senior leaders in IM normally get involved with enticing young people to get involved with militant activities, and then using them to execute their destructive plans.

The main operative of IM in India, Tauqeer, who gets funds from Karachi, seems to have changed his strategies, through membership drives carried out in areas where minority presence is predominant, a source added. Although IM has been carrying out terrorist attacks elsewhere, its main focus, it is believed, will be Gujarat, because of the fact that a number of Muslims had lost their lives in revenge attacks and encounters purported to have been enacted by the police at the instance of the government in that state.