It is getting murkier and murkier. Dawood Ibrahim, India-born mafia don (who is said to be safely hiding in Pakistan), is emerging as a key suspect in “the funding and logistical support for the November 26 terrorist strike on Mumbai.”
Dubbed as “India’s Osama Bin Laden”, Dawood is also allegedly behind the 2006 Mumbai train bombings (which killed at least 200 people); and 1993 bomb attacks in Mumbai (which killed 260 people). Last month’s Mumbai terrorist carnage killed nearly 180 people and left more than 200 injured.
According to Asia Time Online: Dawood has been identified by journalists and investigators as a long-time asset of both the CIA and Pakistan’s notorious Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI). (Maybe this explains the US administrations’ kid glove approach towards ISI.)
“Dawood is…suspected of orchestrating the November 26 Mumbai terrorist strikes through a businessman in Saudi Arabia said to be his frontman.
“Dawood’s underworld connects and business ventures are extensive. And he sublets his name in Pakistan, Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries, to franchises in the fields of drug trafficking and gambling dens.
“…Dawood is amongst ISI’s (Pakistan’s notorious spy agency’s) most valued assets…and a number one espionage operative. His men in Mumbai help him get whatever information he needs for Pakistan.
And what does this “number one espionage operative” get in return? “His home (in Karachi) is a palatial house spread over 6,000 square yards, boasting a pool, tennis courts, snooker room and a private, hi-tech gym.
“He wears designer clothes, drives top-of-the-line Mercedes and luxurious four-wheel drives, sports a half-a-million rupee Patek Phillipe wristwatch, and showers money on starlets and prostitutes.” (See here…)
“Wanted by Interpol and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Ibrahim commutes between palatial homes in Dubai and Karachi (Pakistan) where he enjoys the protection afforded by ‘friends in high places’.” reports the Center for Research on Globalization, Canada.
“While American ‘counter-terrorism officials’ are now calling for the heads of (Dawood) Ibrahim, his associate Tiger Memon and former ISI Director, retired Lieutenant General Hamid Gul, the United States and their NATO partners have made liberal use of these jokers in a score of destabilization ops that span continents.
“Though there is convincing evidence linking (Dawood’s) D-Company to the Mumbai attacks, each new ‘revelation’ by Indian and American authorities tend to erase Ibrahim from the picture.
“This subtle though noticeable reframing of the equation follows a predictable and well-known pattern…” Why? Will this embarrass the high and mighty in different countries?
The headline of The Hindustan Times story: “Lashkar money trail led to Dawood”…Please click here to read…
And here is my earlier post: Mumbai Terrorism: “Don’t Depend on USA”…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.