Author: K J M Varma
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: November 6, 2003
He's winding up Karachi ops; panic
in Pakistan over Muttawakil-CBI session IC-814
Designated by the US as a global
terrorist, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim has moved house from Karachi to
Islamabad along with his associates and is in the process of winding up
his operations in the port city.
Quoting diplomatic sources, Pakistani,
magazine Herald in its cover story on Dawood said that ever since the US
unleashed the war on terror, the Indian gangster, wanted for a spate of
bomb blasts in Mumbai, has moved out of Karachi to stay out of trouble.
"There are also reports that Dawood
is trying to dispose of his properties in Karachi and elsewhere and has
taken up residence in Islamabad along with a few close associates," the
Herald report said.
It also reported that the recent
interrogation by CBI officials of former Taliban foreign minister Mullah
Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil caused considerable alarm in Pakistan.
"Any evidence that links Pakistani
intelligence with IC-814 (Indian Airlines) hijacking could put enormous
pressure on Islamabad, particularly in the wake of Washington's decision
to officially blacklist Dawood Ibrahim," it said, referring to red corner
notices issued by Interpol against the gangster.
The Herald said Pakistan intelligence
officials want a quick end to the "saga" on Dawood, especially in view
of the US designation and subsequent forwarding of his name, details of
his Pakistani passport and Karachi address to United Nations for necessary
action.
Pakistan vehemently denied US assertions
that Dawood lived in the country, saying that the address and the passport
number mentioned to identify him were "fake".
The magazine said that the recent
bomb blast at a plaza, reportedly owned by the don, have raised domestic
security issues. "Besides the Washington related fall-out, the recent bomb
blast in Kawish Crown Plaza, which is reportedly owned by Dawood, are raising
troublesome domestic security issues." FBI investigators, who were keeping
a close watch on Dawood's activities, believe that the action initiated
by US to blacklist him has dealt a "serious body blow" and impaired the
gangster's activities.
Pakistan intelligence officials
have expressed surprise over the US targeting the Mumbai don when there
were bigger mafia gangs in Thailand, Hong Kong and South Africa that aided
Al Qaeda.
"Compared to them, D-company, is
nothing. Yet the US deemed it fit to portray Dawood as a terror ringleader
under Pakistan's protection merely to oblige India," Pakistan intelligence
officials were quoted as saying.
The magazine also confirmed recent
Indian media reports that Dawood briefly went out of Pakistan, ahead of
President Pervez Musharraf's visit to India to attend the Agra summit in
2001. The gangster left for Singapore in early July, 2001 and eventually
returned to Karachi from Dubai on the night of July 18.
The US action listing Dawood as
global terrorist "flies in the face of Pervez Musharraf's categorical statement
at Agra that the man accused of engineering the deaths of 200 Indians in
the 1993 Mumbai blasts was not hiding in Pakistan," the magazine said.-PTI
