Opinion - News Analysis   

The `don' has been grounded

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI OCT. 17. The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, has reasons to be a somewhat satisfied man, after the United States decided to designate Dawood Ibrahim a "designated global terrorist". Officials associated with the intelligence community were all praise for Mr. Advani's "doggedness" on the question of pursuing the "most wanted 20".

As one official pointed out, it was perhaps too much of a coincidence that the U.S. decided to act within hours of Mr. Advani raking up the "20" list at an Interpol conference on fugitives. As Home Minister, Mr. Advani sprung the list on Gen. Pervez Mushrraf at Agra; since then he has been at it, even at the risk of being misunderstood of wanting to indulge in a personalised agenda.

More than giving satisfaction to Mr. Advani, the U.S. decision virtually grounds the "don". The officials expect that the Pakistani establishment would still want to protect him from coming to any physical harm; the ISI brass simply cannot afford to hand over the master-criminal either to Indian or the U.S. At the same time, the ISI would find it difficult to extend to him the kind of indulgent protection and patronage that has made the small-time criminal into a major "global terrorist."

Nonetheless, the American action of naming him, freezing his financial assets and calling upon the international community to cooperate against him marks the beginning of the end of the magical power of the "D Company". It is possible that the ISI can hide him for a while or give him an altogether new identity. Either way, he would not be able to sustain the mystique of a "don", who could commandeer the protective as well as coercive resources of the Pakistani state against his rivals or against those who defied his writ.

Nor will it be easy for the ISI to help rehabilitate him outside Pakistan in some friendly Gulf state. The U.S. and India would be on the lookout, and consequently he would not be able to resurrect his criminal empire. The American decision has put an end to the "impunity" Dawood Ibrahim has enjoyed so far. In particular, he would find it difficult to tap into his financial assets, squirrelled away in banks and investments outside Pakistan. As far as the ISI brass is concerned, Dawood Ibrahim has lost all his operational usefulness. His name and reputation would no longer inspire awe and fear; this should certainly slow down the ISI game plan of using criminals as agents of terror.

It does not necessarily mean that the criminal underworld that "the bhai" had spawned, especially in Mumbai, would disappear overnight. The American action has no impact on the politician-criminal nexus, a relationship that sustains the criminal underworld.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Bullets with a message
• A noble Iranian
• Tying down the CBI
• Fighting to keep what is theirs
• The `don' has been grounded
• Ayodhya issue
• Shocking
• Attack on MP
• Mercy killing
• Right to rally
• Resolution on Iraq
• On The Hindu

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu