Hours after MoS (Home) Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary kicked up a controversy on Tuesday by telling the lok Sabha that the Government was not aware of the whereabouts of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, his ministerial colleague Kiren Rijiju said the Government’s stand was consistent that Dawood was in Pakistan.
“Government’s stand is consistent; he (Dawood) is in Pakistan. The Indian Government has been providing information about his whereabouts to Pakistan,” Rijiju said.
Earlier in a written reply to BJP MP Nityanand Rai, Chaudhary had said, “The subject has not been located so far. Extradition process with regard to Dawood would be initiated once the subject is located.”
The written reply referred to Dawood as an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and noted that a Red Corner Notice was in existence against him. “The United Nations Security Council has also issued a special notice against him,” he said.
later clarifying the Government’s stand, Rijiu said, “Do not misconstrue a statement based on specific question. Do not misconstrue intention of Government,” he added.
“The Government is pursuing the case very seriously, there are no lapses. Pakistani agencies are not cooperating with the Indian Government, it is well known to everybody,” he said.
The Government has been maintaining for a long time that Dawood is living in Karachi under the protection of Pakistani agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
On December 27, 2014, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said in lucknow that Dawood is India’s most wanted terrorist and India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to hand him over to it. In November, the Home Minister had said that Dawood was then staying at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Asked whether India would carry out a “hot pursuit” to nab Dawood, Singh said, “Give us time. Please wait. Strategy cannot be divulged. There is no time frame. But we are trying so that Pakistan hands over Dawood as early as possible.
The comments came amid reports which suggested that Dawood is running his business empire with impunity and the billions he makes are being spent in terror operations around the globe.
“When the Pakistan Premier came to India, our Prime Minister told him to hand over Dawood. We are pursuing it”, he said.
“We have been asking to hand over him to India for a long time. Many evidences have been given to Pakistan. Now Pakistan should act and hand him over to us,” he had then told reporters.
Rijiju said Pakistan should cooperate with India in fight against terrorism if it is serious. “We want it to act on evidence,” he said.