AGENCY
New Delhi: Contrad-icting its earlier stand, government on Tuesday said in Parliament that it was not aware of the location of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim whose deportation from Pakistan it has been demanding.
“The subject has not been located so far. Extradition process with regard to Dawood Ibrahim would be initiated once the subject is located,” Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said while replying to a written question of BJP MP Nityanand Rai.
The written reply referred to Dawood Ibrahim as an accused in the Mumbai serial blasts of 1993 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.
As media carried news on the question, a red faced government prepared to issue a clarification in Lok Sabha tomorrow.
Government sources said Chaudhary held a meeting with Union Home Secretary L.C Goyal where they discussed the modalities of briefing Parliament tomorrow.
Officials sought to blame bureaucratic goof up for the reply. They claimed that the Home Ministry prepared the reply in consultation with External Affairs Ministry.
Interestingly, the government has been maintaining for a long time that Dawood Ibrahim is living in Pakistan with the patronage of Pakistani security establishment.
India had handed over to Pakistan several dossiers on Dawood, India’s most wanted fugitive, giving details about his locations in Pakistan.
On 27th December, 2014, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said in Lucknow that Dawood is India’s most wanted terrorist and that New Delhi has repeatedly asked Pakistan to hand him over to it.
On the same day, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said in New Delhi that India had asked Pakistan to hand over Dawood as enough evidence had been given to it on the prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
“We have been asking to hand over him to India for a long time. Already many evidence has been given to Pakistan.
Pakistan should now act and hand him over to us,” Rijiju had said.
In November, the Home Minister had said here that Dawood Ibrahim was then staying at the Afghanistan-Pak border. (PTI)
