Monday, January 05, 2009

Dawood’s underworld and Mumbai attacks

While nothing has been said overtly about the role of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in the attack on Mumbai, intelligence sleuths in Delhi say he played a key role. They are pretty clear that Dawood played an important role in transporting these terrorists to Indian soil, and claim there is evidence.

The fact is Dawood, who was used by ISI in engineering the 1993 blast, is completely in its control. Talking to TSI, O P Chatwal, an ex official of CBI, who spent a good part of his career investigating 1993 Mumbai blast and trying to extradite Dawood, said, “To do what ISI says is the only option left with Dawood. It is his compulsion and it is increasing by the day.” When, in 2003, US declared Dawood a notified terrorist, his options depleted considerably. “Pakistan government can cry hoarse that Dawood is not on its soil, India has definite proof of his whereabouts in Karachi and has handed them to Pakistan,” Chatwal adds.

US had put Dawood’s name in the list of wanted terrorists following revelations of his connections with Al-Qaeda. The Dawood is not the old don of the 1990s anymore. He is now an inseparable angle of ISI-AL Qaeda-underworld troika.

Well placed Intelligence sleuths say that a meeting was convened between October 15 to 17 at the Dhulikhel resort, 30 kilometers off Kathmandu. Called by the ISI, Dawood’s representative participated in the meeting. The meeting allegedly also involved operatives from HUJI, a terrorist gang based in Bangladesh, and SIMI. The meeting was apparently called to discuss the modus operandi of terror attacks to be carried out in India.....Continue