Mumbai: Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah. The statement of Shahryar Khan that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is not in Pakistan is only partially true. The most wanted of India Dawood Ibrahim is temporarily out of Pakistan. Dawood was spotted by intelligence sleuths in Jeddah on Thursday. Dawood Ibrahim had celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr in Jeddah on Friday and it is expected that he will return to Pakistan very soon.
It is for the first time Pakistan has admitted that Dawood was indeed in the country. Incidentally, Dawood had financed several candidates during the recent parliamentary elections in that country, especially in the Pakhtunwa region, which is a major conduit for his narcotics smuggling activities.
Khan had earlier quoted, “Dawood was in Pakistan but I believe he was chased out of Pakistan. If he is in Pakistan, he should be hounded and arrested. We cannot allow such gangsters to operate from the country.”
Khan’s statement came while he was speaking to reporters at a pre-launch event organised by the Indian Journalists’ Association for his latest book ‘Cricket Cauldron: The Turbulent Politics of Sport in Pakistan’.
“I think he is in the UAE. The Sharif government is very much in favour of taking action against criminals who not only affect Pakistan but other countries. We cannot allow criminals to flourish in the country. If they come to us, we will take action. That is why I think he (Dawood) has left Pakistan,” Khan added.
The grand fact is that Dawood is too important an “asset” to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to be “chased out”. When former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf came to Agra for the summit, the ISI relocated Dawood to a safe house in Singapore which made it possible for the then Pakistani leader to claim that the don is not on Pakistani soil.
It is also a fact that within 24 hours of General Musharraf returning to Islamabad, Dawood was flown back to Karachi in a special jet of the ISI. Dawood regularly keeps in touch with his sister Haseena Aapa, who lives in Nagpada.
Bureau Report
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