Author: Editor
Publications: The Indian Express
Dated: September 12, 2001
Intro: Now, will Musharraf hand
him over to India?
ISLAMABAD will be deeply embarrassed
if the story about Dawood Ibrahim's whereabouts published in a Pakistani
magazine is accurate. It is not the first time the media has reported that
the alleged mastermind of the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai lives a peaceful
life in Karachi. His Bollywood-set lifestyle there has been described often
enough. But when such stories appear in the Indian press Islamabad can
shrug them off as the concoctions of the fevered imagination of Indian
intelligence agencies. Not this time, however. What is different about
the Newsline story is its Pakistani provenance and its timing, a good eight
weeks after Home Minister L K, Advani met General Pervez Musharraf in Agra
and asked him to extradite Dawood. The general did not respond with a vague
promise to try and find out whether the don was in the country; he flatly
denied Dawood lived in Karachi. That makes it awkward for lslamabad.
In the matter of the 1971 POWs Musharraf
has shown he is a man of his word. True to a commitment made during his
visit to India, he started inquiries about the POWs soon after his return
from Agra and has now invited relatives to come and look for them in Pakistani
jails. It is another matter that, having made futile rounds of prisons
once before, some of the relatives think there should be a better way of
locating the POWS. As far as the general is concerned, he has done what,
he said he would. As anyone who watched his Agra related televised press
conferences will testify, Musharraf can get very prickly when his trustworthiness
is questioned. So he is bound to want to set the record straight on the
Dawood affair. How, is the question. There can be two kinds of responses
to the revelations. It is likely to be seen as an attempt by political
opponents to embarrass the military regime. In that case there may be an
attempt to muzzle the magazine. However, Islamabad should think twice about
doing any such thing. It would be most unwise. At this time, Pakistan's
international image is slight on the mend and that is helping the economy
and the regime. Press censorship which comes all too easily to undemocratic
regimes would be 'Strongly condemned all round the world and would tarnish
the image of the government all over again.
A second response, equally unwise,
would be to deny the story and ensure that journalists get nowhere close
to the residences of Dawood and his cronies. But this would be difficult
to sustain. Sooner or later, there is going to be another story with mere
factual detail and more embarrassment for Islamabad. The Dawood issue will
remain another sore point in India-Pakistan relationship as long as the
ISI continues to find him useful and shelter him. Given the number of serious
charges against him and given also his continuing mafia operations in Mumbai
and elsewhere, India must go on pressing Islamabad for his extradition.
