Home minister P Chidambaram on Friday said India knew where underworld don Dawood Ibrahim was but no one would allow it to go to the place and point out his house even as Pakistan consistently denied his presence in the country.
The home minister also said India was not surprised that the US had discovered Pakistani intelligence agency ISI's links with terror outfits, including the Haqqani network.
Asked about Dawood's presence in Karachi as claimed by the don's brother Anis Ibrahim in telephonic conversations with the media, Chidambaram said, "This is not new either. I think we know more than what Dawood Ibrahim's brother told you. We know where he is but surely no one is allowing, no one will allow me to go to the place and point out his house."
He said the matter was raised with Pakistan on several occasions. "We have raised it with Pakistan. I have raised it with my counterparts. They are in flat denial. They deny that Dawood Ibrahim is in Pakistan. What is there we can do from India except some day or the other that it will be exposed as a lie," the home minister said.
After escaping from India following the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, Dawood has been hiding in Pakistan under the ISI's protection. The US had in 2003 declared him a "global terrorist" due to his close links with the al-Qaida.
Asked about the latest American assessment that the ISI had links with Haqqani network in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, Chidambaram said, "We are not surprised that US lately discovered the ISI's link with a number of other terrorist groups. We always knew that the ISI has links with terrorist groups."
Relations between US and Pakistan have come under strain after the US military and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said the Haqqani network was closely linked to and sometimes acted as an agent of the ISI.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly accused the ISI of colluding with the Haqqani network in the September 13 attack on the American embassy in Kabul.
No comments:
Post a Comment