Home Ministry says its position on Indian Mujahideen clear

MoS for Home RPN Singh says the IM has been declared as banned outfit under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act

Refusing to be dragged into the controversy over Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed's statement that Gujarat riots led to creation of Indian Mujahideen, the Home Ministry today said the NIA charge sheet and its position on the banned terror outfit are clear.

Minister of State for Home RPN Singh said the Ministry's official position on IM is very clear and the outfit, like 34 other organisations, has been declared as banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

"What the Home Ministry thinks on the Indian Mujahideen, it is there in our website. Under UAPA, these are all banned organisations. Our position is very clear. The Home Ministry is not tweeting on these kind of things," he told reporters here.

Singh was reacting to the controversy over a remark of Ahmed, who quoting a charge sheet of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), wrote in microblogging site Twitter that the Gujarat riots had led to creation of the terror outfit.

The remark evoked a sharp reaction from BJP which accused his Congress party of playing the communal card for vote bank politics, while the Congress distanced itself from Ahmed's comment.

Minister Singh said everything was very clear in the NIA charge sheet and everyone knows what the charge sheet says.

In the charge sheet filed on July 17, accusing five IM operatives of hatching a conspiracy for carrying out various terrorist acts across the country, the NIA has said, "IM was formed in 2003 after ultra radicalised Muslim youth segregated from the Student Islamic Movement of India due to communal mobilisation caused by factors like the riots in Gujarat in 2002 after the Godhra train burning incident and the Babri Masjid demolition".

"They do not believe in India's Constitution and IM's members nurse communal hatred against the Hindu community."

The IM is receiving regular funding from abroad and some of its functionaries are undertaking large-scale recruitment for carrying out terrorist strikes in various parts of the country, the NIA has said.