The worst kept secret

Murder, they say, will out. Does the same hold true for terrorists sheltered in safe havens? Soon after the Bombay serial blasts of March 19...

Murder, they say, will out. Does the same hold true for terrorists sheltered in safe havens? Soon after the Bombay serial blasts of March 1993, Pakistan proved a friend indeed for a friend in need. Not only was Dawood Ibrahim 8212; the mastermind behind the serial blasts 8212; provided with a backdated passport, he was allowed to move into luxurious accommodation in an upscale Karachi neighbourhood and pretty much allowed to do his own thing, which included a thriving business in narcotics and in fomenting terrorist events on home turf, back in India. For Pakistan8217;s ISI, Dawood and his D-Company was a valuable tool in its efforts to destablise the neighbour.

Not surprisingly, however, it has consistently refused to acknowledge the presence of Dawood on its soil. When General Pervez Musharraf visited India in July 2001, he maintained during all his interactions with Indian leaders, that the mafia don was not in Pakistan. Later, after the Parliament attack in December that year, Dawood Ibrahim8217;s name figured in the list of the 20 most wanted, fugitives whom India believed were either operating from Pakistan or enjoying its protection. The response was predictable 8212; denial again. But every once in a way, either through a newspaper expose or developments that couldn8217;t be kept totally under wraps, the mafiosi8217;s presence in Pakistan caught public attention. The most recent instance of this, of course, was the bomb blast in Karachi8217;s Kawish Crown Plaza this July, which caused the inspector general of the Sindh police to reveal that the property was actually owned by Dawood Ibrahim. The local minister of home went one step further to observe that the D-Company had established a major network stretching from Mumbai to Karachi. He later claimed that he was misquoted but as secrets go this was a particularly badly-kept one.

It would seem then that time is running out on the ISI8217;s project of keeping fugitives from this part of the world happy with the express intention of destablising India, what with Pakistan itself feeling the heat. Evidence that the country is fast losing its cache of international goodwill for being a 8220;frontline state8221; in the global war against terror is evident even in such intangibles as editorial comment. The New York Times recently pointed to Pakistan8217;s failures in fighting terrorism, and upbraided it for continuing to provide support to 8220;Kashmiri terrorists8221;. There is, besides, the danger that Ibrahim8217;s activities could pose in a nation that is already acquainted with the toxic effects of gun running, drug peddling and gang warfare. Bombay8217;s Bhai is a double-edged sword and Pakistan had better evolve a clear-headed policy with regard to him. Meanwhile, India waits.