Location of Dawood Ibrahim no secret, Pakistan still in denial mode: India

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New Delhi/Islamabad: India on Thursday said that it's no "secret" that fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who is wanted for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, is living in Pakistan and that Islamabad still continues to be in a denial mode when it comes to dealing with the issues related to terrorism.

Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "The location of Dawood Ibrahim is not a secret. Time and again for the last several years, we have presented to Pakistan a list of people who are in their country. We have asked repeatedly that he should be handed over. He is a UN proscribed terrorist."

On his role in in the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, the MEA spokesperson said, ''His (Dawood) imprint on the Mumbai blasts is very clear for all of us to see. Frankly, many people from media fraternity they have managed to speak to him and its clear linkages are in Pakistan."

It is to be noted that Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in India for 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai that killed over 200 people and both the US and India have designated him as a ''global terrorist''.

The fugitive underworld don carries a bounty of USD 25 million on his head.

Condemning Pakistan for its ''half-hearted measures'' in tackling terrorism, the MEA official said that Islamabad continues to be in a denial mode when it comes to taking action on terror groups operating from its soil. 

"When we look at this episode of his presence and if we see what Pakistan has been trying to convince the international community on steps they claim they have taken against terrorist and terror groups operating from their soil, very interesting you claim to have taken action but when it comes to action against people we have demanded, you ignore and go into denial mode and in fact deny they exist and present in your country," Raveesh Kumar said.

Dawood Ibrahim is known to be living in Karachi's posh Clifton locality for several years. He has atleast 4 properties in his name in Karachi and other cities of Pakistan.

This comes even as the US Government on Thursday told a UK court that Dawood Ibrahim lives in Pakistan. 

American investigative agency FBI told Westminster Magistrates' Court during a hearing on extradition of Dawood trusted henchman Jabir Motiwala to the US that India's most wanted person is in Pakistan.

Interestingly, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal, in a weekly presser, said that "Dawood Ibrahim is not, and I repeat, not in Pakistan".

The FBI has filed a plea in the UK court seeking the extradition of Jabir Motiwala, a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, from the UK to the US to face trial on charges of extortion and money laundering.

Motiwala was arrested by the Scotland Yard last year, and if extradited, could face 25 years of jail in the US.