Students Islamic Movement of India

Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is a banned Islamic student organization that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ from Western materialistic cultural influence and to convert its Muslim society to live according to Muslim code of conduct. This organization is blamed by Government of India, to be involved in terrorism.

SIMI was banned by the Indian government in 2001, soon after the 9/11 attacks and declaration of the "War on Terror" by the U.S. government, for its alleged involvement in terrorist attacks in India. It has been labelled a terrorist organisation by the administrations in India and U.S. In August 2008, a special tribunal lifted the ban on SIMI, after a long review process. The ban was immediately (in 24 hours) reinstated by K.G. Balakrishnan, then Chief Justice at Supreme Court of India, on the 6th of August, 2008, at the special request of the Congress-led government on national security grounds. Though an appeal was submitted by SIMI leadership challenging the political ban, it has not been accepted in file by the Supreme Court.

Fears exist in some government circles that SIMI may have been operating at the influence of Al-Qaeda. Some analysts of Indian Intelligence Bureau believe SIMI also operates under the name of Indian Mujahideen, an outfit that has reportedly taken responsibility for the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts, Jaipur blasts and 2008 Delhi blasts. and communicates with the media under the pseudonyms of Al-Arbi and Al-Hindi.