A surgical strike on politico-criminal nexus is the need of hour in the wake of Kaskar’s revelations
Iqbal Kaskar recently revealed the nexus of politicians in the high-profile extortion racket he ran in Dawood Ibrahim’s name. So deep this politico-criminal nexus runs that it no longer shocks us to know that terror and crime can be linked to our elected representatives. But it is still a sad and alarming commentary on the prevailing state of affairs in our country which makes it vulnerable to terror strikes in the future. Now that the Thane police is on the trail of these MPs, the probe should not be derailed by political compulsions as MPs of the Nationalist Congress Party are a sought-after lot during political times. Also, the disclosure by Kaskar, that Dawood’s wife had visited the country in 2016 and quietly after seeing her father in Mumbai, shows how porous and negligent our intelligence and security set-ups are. That she was granted a visa to enter the Indian territory without verification despite being the wife of the world’s most wanted terrorist, is shocking — as shocking as the speculation that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray may actually be in “talks” with the Karachi-based don to broker a deal with him for his return to India. Any such foolhardy “deal” would look even more preposterous in the light of Kaskar’s disclosure to the police that Dawood is no ailing don on the last legs of life but living a haloed existence with family and friends in Karachi. This is because Thackeray reportedly said that this so-called process, by which he is trying to bring Dawood back, emanates as a last-wish giveaway. Why, a most wanted terrorist and the prime accused of the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, should be considered on any ground of compassion or otherwise, is bewildering. But since all this is in the realm of speculation, it can be ignored.
However, the fact that Kaskar was in Mumbai since his deportation in 2003, running a full-scale extortion racket, threatening builders and jewellers, shows how our law enforcement agencies and terrified victims are to be blamed for letting Kaskar function in his manner. The constant talk of two NCP MPs being under the scanner for their involvement in this racket brings to the fore the urgent need to clean up the system at the highest level. The rot runs from top to bottom of the administrative pyramid and across departments. If Vijay Mallya could have slipped through immigration despite the financial mess he unleashed on his employees and the banks, there is something one needs to do to tighten surveillance monitors. As for Dawood, it is a standing joke between Pakistan and India about his oft-proven presence in Pakistan under the wings of all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, which has worked to further its presence in India through the don’s network even as Islamabad has officially denied having Dawood within its boundaries. Now that Kaskar is singing, India needs to unfold a comprehensive and effective offensive against Pakistan harbouring fugitives from India, more so when the likes of Dawood have so much terror blood on their hands that even the world at large has taken note of his continued presence in Pakistan.