| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Indian police crack down on Islamic group |
| 2001-09-28 |
| CNN Indian police Friday continued a crackdown on members of the Students Islamic Movement of India Friday, arresting the group's president, Sahid Badr. The latest developments came after the Indian government banned the organization, a move that sparked riots in Uttar Pradesh that left four people dead. The Indian Interior Ministry said the group was being banned because of its links to al Qaeda and other pan-Islamic movements. The Indian government said the group is also linked to terrorist organizations in Kashmir, and has promoted "communal tensions" in India in the wake of the September 11 attacks. An Indian official also said Friday that SIMI had come to the government's notice recently for "eulogizing Osama bin Laden and his ideology." On Thursday, thousands of protestors took to the streets in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh to protest the ban. Vehicles were burned and the mobs threw stones at policemen. When the protests turned violent, police officials say they had to open fire in retaliation, killing four. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |