Shinde promises to nab Dawood
3 Sept 2013 5:32 AM IST
From a gauche occupant of the North Block office to a confident head of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the turn-around for home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in a year’s time has been for all to see.
The arrests and repatriation of major terrorists by the security agencies in the past one year finally had an important political functionary claim that India’s most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim was not beyond their grasp. In past one year, security agencies successfully brought back wanted terrorists including Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, key plotter of Mumbai attack, as well as terrorists Fasih Mahmood, LeT operative Abdul Karim Tunda and most recently, the Indian Mujahideen founder Yasin Bhatkal.
However, sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) contradict the claim that the recent catches have all been the MHA’s doing, asserting the backchannel negotiations with the Pakistani government have also equally contributed in nabbing the dreaded terrorists. Sources have also said that external affairs minister Salman Khurshid had kept the diplomatic channels on, which persuaded the Nawaz Sharif government to extend cooperation and exchange intelligence with the Indian officials that helped in the important arrests.
However, on Monday, Shinde continued to claim credit for the successful operations and said Dawood would also be brought to India to face justice. ‘We will bring them one by one. All will come. Just wait,’ a confident Shinde told reporters in New Delhi when asked whether there was any chance of arresting Dawood and bringing him back to India.
Dawood, who heads a vast and multi-sided illegal business empire, emerged as India’s most wanted terrorist after the 1993 Mumbai bombings, which he allegedly organised and financed.
According to the US, Dawood maintains close links with the terror outfit al-Qaida. As a result, the US declared him as a ‘global terrorist’ and pursued the matter before the United Nations in an attempt to freeze his assets around the world and crack down on his operations. Dawood is long believed to be living in Pakistan.
Jundal, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative, accused of carrying out blasts in Ahmedabad railway station, the Aurangabad arms haul case and a co-accused in German bakery blast, was deported from Saudi Arabia in June 2012. Fasih Mahmood, an LeT operative from Bihar, was allegedly involved in the 2010 Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore and a terror attack near Jama Masjid in 2010. He was arrested in Saudi Arabia and subsequently brought back to India.
Abdul Karim Tunda is accused of carrying out blasts in New Delhi, Panipat, Sonepat, Ludhiana, Kanpur and Varanasi between December 1996 and January 1998. He was arrested along the India-Nepal border last month. Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal alias Syed Mohammed Ahmed Zarar Siddibapa, wanted in around 40 blast cases and carrying a reward of Rs 35 lakh on his head, was arrested from India-Nepal border on Thursday.
The arrests and repatriation of major terrorists by the security agencies in the past one year finally had an important political functionary claim that India’s most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim was not beyond their grasp. In past one year, security agencies successfully brought back wanted terrorists including Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, key plotter of Mumbai attack, as well as terrorists Fasih Mahmood, LeT operative Abdul Karim Tunda and most recently, the Indian Mujahideen founder Yasin Bhatkal.
However, sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) contradict the claim that the recent catches have all been the MHA’s doing, asserting the backchannel negotiations with the Pakistani government have also equally contributed in nabbing the dreaded terrorists. Sources have also said that external affairs minister Salman Khurshid had kept the diplomatic channels on, which persuaded the Nawaz Sharif government to extend cooperation and exchange intelligence with the Indian officials that helped in the important arrests.
However, on Monday, Shinde continued to claim credit for the successful operations and said Dawood would also be brought to India to face justice. ‘We will bring them one by one. All will come. Just wait,’ a confident Shinde told reporters in New Delhi when asked whether there was any chance of arresting Dawood and bringing him back to India.
Dawood, who heads a vast and multi-sided illegal business empire, emerged as India’s most wanted terrorist after the 1993 Mumbai bombings, which he allegedly organised and financed.
According to the US, Dawood maintains close links with the terror outfit al-Qaida. As a result, the US declared him as a ‘global terrorist’ and pursued the matter before the United Nations in an attempt to freeze his assets around the world and crack down on his operations. Dawood is long believed to be living in Pakistan.
Jundal, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative, accused of carrying out blasts in Ahmedabad railway station, the Aurangabad arms haul case and a co-accused in German bakery blast, was deported from Saudi Arabia in June 2012. Fasih Mahmood, an LeT operative from Bihar, was allegedly involved in the 2010 Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore and a terror attack near Jama Masjid in 2010. He was arrested in Saudi Arabia and subsequently brought back to India.
Abdul Karim Tunda is accused of carrying out blasts in New Delhi, Panipat, Sonepat, Ludhiana, Kanpur and Varanasi between December 1996 and January 1998. He was arrested along the India-Nepal border last month. Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal alias Syed Mohammed Ahmed Zarar Siddibapa, wanted in around 40 blast cases and carrying a reward of Rs 35 lakh on his head, was arrested from India-Nepal border on Thursday.
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