Here's DGP P.C Pandey with his sleeping colleague at that press conference. These are the people we are supposed to trust to be telling us the truth and to keep us safe.

Click the image to view the press conference video.

The media's sensationalism using cheap effects with sinister music and simply parroting police claims, without doing any fact checks of their own along with the police claiming that SIMI was responsible for not only the Ahmedabad blasts but also the ones in Hyderabad, Jaipur and Bangalore is reason enough to doubt them. Why? Because we've been here before. SIMI has been the punching bag of the Indian State for a long time, since 27 September 2001, when then Union Home Minister L.K Advani's ministry banned them and he told reporters:

"The nature of this organization had become apparent and preliminary information sent by various state governments only confirmed its tendencies."

I know, bureaucratic language in India can confound even the most well-versed in the English language. Whatever that typical political sentence means, note the date: 27 September 2001, just eighteen days after the 9/11 attacks when India was desperate to jump on the "me-too-a-victim" bandwagon along with Pakistan. At that time India was offering Kashmir to America as a base to launch attacks on Afghanistan. Vajpayee even expressed regret that though India had supported the US bombing of Afghanistan since the beginning, its offer of support had not been fully utilized. That petty creature was more concerned that America was relying on Pakistan for logistical, operational and intelligence support. My bet is that since the inept Indian government couldn't find anybody else, they jumped on the student body and arrested its president Shahid Badr Falahi. India desperately needed to be part of the war on terror. The Union Home ministry banned SIMI under the following specious "proof":

• Was in "close touch" with militant outfits and supported "extremism/militancy in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere". [What does "elsewhere" mean?]
• Supported claims for seceding parts of India's territory and groups fighting for it, and thus questioned India's territorial integrity. [So this is a "thought crime"]
• Was working to establish an "International Islamic order". [International Islamic Order is a rip-off term of White House language at that time. No one really knows what it means]
• Published objectionable posters and literature "calculated to incite" communal feelings and question India's territorial integrity. [Isn't this what the Amarnath Shrine board is doing in Jammu right now or isn't this what BJP/VHP did before breaking Babri Masjid?]

SIMI has been linked all over the place with the Taliban, Osama Bin Laden/Al Qaida, Pakistan/ISI and even the Palestinian militia Hamas! Basically anything if its Muslim and not acceptable to India, this student body is connected to it. And anyone who knew or had any association with SIMI activists was criminally charged. Some of the police charge-sheets are as absurd as:

• the accused trained SIMI members in swimming and horse-riding.
• the accused stood at the door of his house and shouted anti-India slogans.

Tehelka's reporter Ajit Sahi has done an excellent expos on the systematic lying by the government against SIMI.

I am not a religious person. I do not share Falahi or SIMI's beliefs. Neither do I share Advani or Narinder Modi's beliefs. I want to see Advaniji, Modiji and Vajpayeeji rot in jail for their heinous crimes. But they are powerful and mock at us that they are above the law. That they can do the things they charge others with and worse. They can throw anyone in jail. To me they are the enemies of this country because they fuel terrorism. They ensure that through their lies and injustice another generation of hardliners are created. They push people to buy into the fundamentalist ideology, because they themselves are fundamentalist. And they do all this from positions of power, in your and my name.

Put yourself in any Indian Muslim's position. Why would he/she not feel prejudiced in this country? Right after the 9/11 attacks a question which was constantly shut out by the mainstream media in the United States was: "Why did they attack us?" The question was answered in profound dumbness by the little George Bush:

"Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in this chamber -- a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other."

This from a man who stole the election and has attacked all these freedoms since he became president. No Mr. Bush, no Mr. Modi, they hate us because of the injustice meted out by our system and you want them to continue to hate us so that you can carry on the charade you call "War on Terror".

So the next time there is a "terrorist" attack, the victim could be you or I but remember how these injustices and our silence is all connected to it. This reminds me of a powerful poem by Martin Niemller:

First they came…

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.