India and US are working out ways on the ground level to block the flow of funds and support to terror groups, including the D-Company of Mumbai serial blast mastermind Dawood Ibrahim.
National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, who was part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s delegation, has stayed back and is in discussions with his American counterpart and other senior security advisors in Obama Administration to implement the follow-up measures after the Modi-Obama Summit meet in Washington.
Besides the terror-outfits Al-Qaeda, lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and others, Dawood prominently figured in the discussions with both sides stressing the need to effectively block and dismantle all the life-lines to his terror network.
A joint statement, issued after the talks between Modi and US President Barack Obama, said, “The leaders stressed the need for joint and concerted efforts, including the dismantling of safe havens for terrorist and criminal networks, to disrupt all financial and tactical support for networks such as Al-Qaeda, lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, the D-Company, and the Haqqanis.
“They reiterated their call for Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai to justice.”
Doval was also entrusted to talk about the US Government- approved snooping on various countries including India, a top Government official said.External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had raised the issue with his American counterpart John Kerry during his visit here on July 31, saying that snooping on India was “not acceptable”.
Dawood, who has also been declared as international terrorist by the UN, is understood to be under the protection of Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, making use of his terror and drug network. The gangster is wanted in India for multiple terror cases — particularly the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.
Despite the pronouncement of taking effective action against the Mafia don, the successive Governments at the Centre could not make much headway in their attempts to smoke him out from Pakistan. Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Home Minister in the Manmohan Singh Government, was the last to claim that his government would bring Dawood back in India.
“As per our information, Dawood is in Pakistan. When I went to America last year to discuss inland security, I met the Attorney General who looks after the FBI. I talked to him and we decided that we will pass whatever information we have on Dawood amongst each other. We decided we will make joint efforts,” Shinde had said on January 10, this year, when asked about the whereabouts of Dawood.
The Minister was then addressing his monthly press conference here. He had said all such wanted elements will be brought back “one by one”. “All will come. Just wait,” he had said.