The Hindu : Dawood's connections

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Dawood's connections

DAWOOD IBRAHIM KAKSAR'S freedom to move from one sanctuary to another will be restricted with the United States Treasury Department designating him a terrorist. However, the Treasury Department's decision might not deprive Dawood of the ability to run his narcotics-trafficking empire or the terror network that is its offshoot. The absconder from Mumbai will not be able to travel to the U.S. or access any funds he might have there. Dawood's mobility and operational capacity will get further restricted as other member-states of the United Nations respond to the U.S. request that they too take action on these lines. He will not be put out of business so long as authorities in certain jurisdictions refuse to see through the many false identities he is known to assume. Pakistan, in particular, has got away with its dalliance with Dawood by resorting to the simple expedient of claiming that no person of that name was present in the country. The indications from Pakistan are that it will not alter its behaviour after the American decision. India will have to keep on hold any hopes that Dawood will be extradited to be tried as the prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb-blasts case or for the many other offences he is alleged to have committed during his long career in the underworld.

The U.S. decision has embarrassed Pakistan but will not necessarily place it in a bind. Pakistan's claim that Dawood was not on its soil was demolished when the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control determined that he has a Pakistani passport and a Karachi telephone number. Islamabad protested its innocence at the most authoritative level when its President, Pervez Musharraf, denied any knowledge about Dawood's whereabouts during the July 2001 Agra summit. This position was not changed after the Pakistani media reported that Dawood was operating in the country with official patronage. The de facto Home Minister of Sindh, Aftab Sheikh, sprang a surprise last month when he announced that Dawood was running his network from the capital of the province. It is possible that Mr. Sheikh and the Muttahida Quami Movement, of which he is a key leader, are annoyed because Dawood's presence in Karachi has disrupted their own thuggish hold over the city. However, the fact that Mr. Sheikh and the U.S. were contradicted by spokesmen of Pakistan's central government would appear to show that Dawood is protected by powerful elements in that country. The mafioso from Mumbai has been so useful to Pakistan's intelligence services and knows so much about their activities that they cannot afford to hand him over to the United States, let alone to India.

It is inconceivable that the U.S. would have put Dawood on its terror watchlist had it not found a connection between him and known terrorist groups. He is believed to have shared his narcotics-smuggling network with outfits such as Al-Qaeda and the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Washington appears to have supported New Delhi's allegation that Dawood used funds generated by drug trafficking to fuel terrorist activities in this country. Notwithstanding its confirmation of India's allegations, the U.S. is not likely to exert pressure on Pakistan to extradite Dawood. It was satisfied with the superficial action taken by Islamabad against the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed after these two organisations were put on the terror watchlist. That showed the U.S. would not press Pakistan beyond a point. Nevertheless, India's intelligence and investigative agencies and Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani deserve credit for convincing the U.S. and the world about Dawood's true character and the outrage his sanctuary in, and patronage by, Pakistan represents.

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