A damning report on Hindustan Times by Shishir Gupta this morning has reiterated with further proof a fact we have known and believed for a long time – Dawood Ibrahim, his family and his close aides are in Pakistan, living a luxurious life and running a global crime empire.
The report comes following a statement by Pakistan High Commissioner in Delhi Abdul Basit that Dawood was not in Pakistan. The report states, with documentary evidence of phone bills and travel documents, that Dawood and his family are living in a fancy house in the tony Clifton neighbourhood in Karachi in Pakistan, the exact address of which is also available. His family and fellow criminal gangsters travel between Dubai and Karachi regularly and a latest photo of him shows how well he has aged. Read the full story here.
The leak to HT, with hard documentary proof and photos, comes in the background of the now cancelled NSA-level talks between India and Pakistan. It is very clear what the intentions behind the leaks were – it is to embarrass Pakistan. It is to point fingers at the terror-sponsoring state and establish in the public domain that the country supports terror and those who have harmed India.
But there is something jarring about burning TV screens and anchors questioning only the Pakistani establishment about the presence of Dawood in Karachi. It is a well-known that the terrorist is close to several politicians and influential people in India, and they might very well be protecting him even now. This is why a cynic watching the news this morning cannot but smirk and dismiss the charade played out by the Indian government in going all out in attacking Pakistan but not even pointing fingers against traitors within Indian for years. He is still an Indian, homegrown criminal and terrorist, not denying the fact that he recieved ample help from Pakistan.
Documents submitted by the MHA to the NN Vohra Committee looking into the politicians-criminal nexus after the 1993 blasts, and accessed by Outlook showed there were definite links between Dawood and former Union Minister Sharad Pawar for Hawala operations. There were several other politicians from Maharashtra and Gujarat who were named by the MHA. Pawar has denied all such allegations.
In 2011, India Today published a detailed report on Dawood’s crime empire, which states, “What is still intact is his political support. In the early '90s, it was rumoured that around 75 politicians owed their entry to Parliament to Dawood though none could confirm his clout because there was nothing on paper. Politicians such as Bhai Thakur and Suresh alias Pappu Kalani were arrested for links with Dawood around the same time. An MLA in the Maharashtra Assembly is presently under the scanner of the Intelligence Bureau for his alleged links with the don.”
In 2013, there were allegations that cricket administrator and Congress politician Rajiv Shukla had met Dawood in April 2004 and divulged security secrets. Shukla too has rubbished these allegations.
After he quit service and joined the BJP, former Home Secretary RK Singh alleged that Sushil Kumar Shinde, in his capacity as the Union Home Minister, had protected a businessman with close links to Dawood.
There were also media reports that in 2013 India had come very close to killing Dawood in Karachi, but the operation was called off in the last minute due to political pressure.
A Sunday Guardian news report quoted US sources earlier this year that until the 2008 terror attacks, at least “2 NDA and 4 UPA personalities” were in touch Dawood. Dawood’s aide Chotta Shakeel also claimed that it was Pawar and BJP leader LK Advani who stopped Dawood’s return to India.
Dawood Ibrahim used to control the Mumbai police and Maharashtra politicians with tight grip when he was in India. That control does not exist anymore, but we would be fooling ourselves to think that he has been living a free life without help from some in the Indian establishment.