After years of denial, Pakistan admits 26/11 mastermind Dawood Ibrahim living in Karachi

Islamabad: After years of denial, the Pakistan government has finally admitted that fugitive underworld don and 26/11 Mumbai serial blasts mastermind Dawood Ibrahim is living in Karachi city. A Pakistan government’s order has stated that Dawood Ibrahim, who is India’s most wanted terrorist, is residing in Karachi.

The development is significant since Islamabad has for years denied that it has sheltered Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, who has been accused of orchestrating the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts along with other terrorists. 

Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in India to face the law of the land for carrying out the serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993 in which scores of people were killed and injured. India has asked Pakistan numerous times in past to hand over the fugitive underworld gangster to face trial for the crimes committed by him in the country, but Pakistan always denied.

The Pakistan government issued a sanction order on August 18 proscribing 88 terrorists under the United Nations Sanction Resolution which also named Dawood Ibrahim.

Through its August 18 order, the Pakistan government had put more curbs on 88 banned terrorist outfits which included Dawood Ibrahim  - a United Nations-designated terrorist.

The tough sanctions would lead to the seizure of Dawood Ibrahim's properties and the freezing of his bank accounts. The order detailing him mentions his various aliases, his Pakistani passport numbers and his address in Karachi. Under the section on Dawood's various passports and their numbers, the order lists five passports issued in Pakistan.

The Pakistan government's document mentions - White House, Karachi – as Dawood’s address.

Dawood Ibrahim heads the D-Company and runs an organised crime syndicate. As per some estimates, up to 5,000 criminals are believed to be part of the D-Company. They are engaged in smuggling and trafficking and, according to some estimates, make about USD 2 billion (around 13,695 crore) every year from illegitimate activities.

D-Company members smuggle contraband, arms and explosives with the participation of foreign agents during their ship dismantling operations, the report says. The Dawood gang is also infamous for extortion and contract killings.

 According to the  US Treasury report, the D Company is the biggest operator of an international betting syndicate. Their betting syndicate derives strength from his hawala operation based out of Dubai. The US Treasury has frozen Dawood's assets and accused him of drug trafficking to Europe.

Other controversial figures who have been banned by the Pakistan government are Hafiz Saeed Ahmad of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Mohammad Masood Azhar of JeM and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi etc. According to the details, the government has also seized the bank accounts and properties of the terrorists in the country. They have also been banned from travelling aboard, Pakistan’s Ary News reported.

Pakistan has been on the Paris-based FATF's grey list since June 2018 and the Imran Khan-led government had been given a final warning in February to complete the remaining action points by June 2020. The FATF extended the June deadline to September due to the spread of coronavirus that disrupted the FATF plenary meetings.

If Pakistan fails to comply with the FATF directive by October, the Paris-based body could push the Imran Khan-led country onto the "Blacklist" along with North Korea and Iran.