New Delhi: Under attack over its statement in Parliament that it was not aware about Dawood Ibrahim’s whereabouts, the government today asserted that the Mumbai blast mastermind is in Pakistan and it will do everything to bring him to justice.
“Whether we have to pursue Pakistan or pressurise it, we will not rest till Dawood Ibrahim is brought back,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Lok Sabha and averred that India has maintained pressure on Pakistan at all levels over the issue.
He alleged that Pakistan has “failed” to track him down despite being provided with “overwhelming evidence” about his presence there, based on “credible information”.
Singh’s assertion came amid Opposition attack over a Home Ministry’s reply to a question in Lok Sabha last week that it was not aware about the gangster’s location.
He had then sought to deflect the criticism, saying the stand was similar to the one taken by the UPA government in Parliament in May 2013 and signalled a rethink. He had said he will make a statement in Parliament today.
In the statement, Singh said, “India has credible information about his presence in Pakistan… Despite the neighbouring country being handed over overwhelming documentary and other evidence, it has to locate him and initiate legal process.”
India has provided Pakistan the details of his Pakistani passports and reported addresses there from time to time, asking it to locate and hand him over to it.
Noting that a red-corner notice issued by Interpol was pending against Dawood since 1996 and a UN Security Council’s special notice against him was also pending since 2006, the Home Minister said Pakistan was bound by international obligations to locate and extradite him.
PTI
