D company looks for a new CEO
The Week looks at the gathering succession storm in the D Company
Shaikh Dawood Hasan turned 65 on December 26 last year.
He is the patriarch of a large, prosperous family in Karachi, but there was no celebration or even a family gathering on his birthday.
Five feet and six inches tall and of medium build, he appears clean-shaven in his passport photograph, quite remote from his grisly persona. Before he came to Pakistan as a fugitive and changed his name in the 1990s, he was better known as Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar. For nearly three decades, Hasan aka Dawood has been ‘eluding’ intelligence and security agencies across the world, despite the United States having declared a $25-million bounty on his head for his role in the 1993 Bombay blasts.
Though Dawood has long been India’s most wanted man, he travels around the globe under aliases without being caught at immigration points. The D Company, which he started in the 1980s, was a smuggling, murder and extortion syndicate. Today, it is a corporate empire with multiple verticals looked after by separate managers. It is spread across Asia, Africa, Europe and even North America, with distinct wings that run guns, plant bombs, print fake currencies, buy and sell real estate, run factories, smuggle drugs and kill people.
Indian agencies have discovered that Dawood is not in the pink of health. He has blood pressure-related problems, and there were rumours that he had contracted Covid-19. Sensing that the times are changing, Dawood is apparently keen to pass on his shady empire to capable hands.
The big question is: who will succeed him?
Dawood would know that the succession (or a division of the empire, if needed) has to happen while he is firmly in charge. For criminal empires like his tend to end up in bullets and blood, much like in the underworld movies he once produced clandestinely. Also, the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence, which has been helping him run his businesses, wants a smooth succession.
But this was not the only reason that Dawood chose to have a low-key birthday in Europe, away from his family. Dossiers with Indian intelligence agencies, which The Week has seen, reveal that Dawood and his family are permanent residents in Pakistan with computerised national identification cards (CNIC) issued by the interior ministry. These are similar to India’s Aadhaar.
The dossiers indicate that he is currently in Europe; Pakistani sources say he is in the UK. But every country denies his presence on its soil.
Last August, Pakistan admitted that Dawood had been living on its soil.
Having become a grandfather, Dawood has reportedly taken a back seat in family and business matters, apparently to make way for a successor. The second generation of the Kaskar family has grown in size, age and experience. Dawood’s immediate family includes his wife, Mahjabeen Shaikh alias Zubeena Zareen, 55; son Moeen Nawaz, 32; and daughters Mahrukh, 34; Mehreen, 33; and Mazia Sheikh, 22. Then there are Moeen’s wife, Sania; Mahrukh’s husband, Junaid Miandad; and Mehreen’s husband, Aurangzeb Mehmood. Mazia, the youngest daughter, is unmarried. All of Dawood’s children have permanent addresses in Karachi, with business interests and properties spread across Islamabad, Dubai and London.
Then there are Dawood’s siblings. Of the original 12 — seven brothers and five sisters — only six are alive. One of the brothers, Anis Kaskar, is living in Karachi and another brother, Mustaquim Kaskar, in Dubai. Yet another one, Iqbal Kaskar, has been in Thane jail since his arrest in an extortion case in 2017. Sisters Zaitun, Mumtaz and Farzana are in Dubai, Karachi and Mumbai, respectively.
Apart from blood relatives, there are Dawood’s two main aides, Chhota Shakeel and Fahim Machmach, who run businesses across the globe. “They are the Indian and international faces of the D Company, which now functions like a corporate entity with several verticals,” said Milind Bharambe, joint commissioner of police (crime) in Mumbai.
So, who will inherit Dawood’s empire? Or, if it is going to be broken up, who will get what?
Indian officers say three front-runners are: Dawood’s son Moeen Nawaz, son-inlaw Junaid Miandad and the trusted second- in- command Chhota Shakeel.
Dawood would like Moeen to inherit his mantle, but many in the D Company consider him to be “soft”. “Moeen is a hafiz ( someone who knows the Quran by heart),” said a relative of Dawood.
Junaid, on the other hand, is known to have a sharp business acumen, and many expect him to succeed Dawood. Dawood’s brothers Anis and Mustaquim are also eyeing the throne. Mustaquim is in charge of the export-import business and runs the drug racket in Dubai. Anis is in charge of the gutka (tobacco) business and paper factories; he oversees the printing and distribution of fake Indian currency notes. In 2015, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control registered a case against Anis and his paper mill in Sindh under the US Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act for printing fake Indian rupee notes.
With five names in the running — Moeen, Junaid, Shakeel, Anis and Mustaquim — the endgame is near. It could be a break-up of the empire or a bloody succession war. Anticipating this, many of Dawood’s lieutenants have started aligning themselves with their preferred candidates, or are trying to gain full control of their branches and drift away.
Since the early 2000s, Dawood and his close associates have been making investments around the world — some beyond the reach of the ISI. He has been parking funds in the west, particularly in real estate in the UK, where his daughter-inlaw lives. Moeen regularly visits his wife in London, where he also has business interests.
Moeen’s chief competitor is Junaid, 38, who is smart, educated, shrewd and ruthless. Junaid is the son of former cricketer Javed Miandad. Sources say Junaid is in Dawood’s good books. But many D Company leaders, including Dawood’s brothers, view Junaid as an outsider.
Though they are ageing, Anis and Mustaquim view themselves as rightful claimants to the throne. They have been with Dawood through thick and thin, and feel that the family business should not be divided among outsiders. Dawood, however, reportedly has more confidence in Chhota Shakeel than his brothers. Most people in the D Company expect Shakeel to take over the reins. He has been Dawood’s trusted general and conscience keeper for decades, and knows the nitty-gritty of running the empire. Dawood also knows that the ISI would like Shakeel to succeed him. With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan imminent, the ISI’s arms in the country are likely to be activated again.
The US has designated Dawood a “global terrorist” who runs guns for Al Qaeda and the Taliban; his aides Shakeel and Ibrahim “Tiger” Memon have been designated as “foreign narcotics kingpins”. But with the US keen to exit Afghanistan, a resurgent Taliban is expected to lift the D Company’s prospects.
Security agencies in India worry that the situation would embolden Dawood to strike in India again. The police in Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have received inputs that the D Company is re-activating its contacts in India. The problem is that the D Company works with such finesse that it often leaves few footprints.
The D Company also controls a significant share of the global illicit drug market. Drugs from the Makran coast of Pakistan are split into two pathways—to the Maldives and Sri Lanka to the southeast, and to Mozambique, Kenya and Tanzania to the southwest. From the East African coast, the drugs are transported to South Africa and the west.
Senior intelligence officers said it was better to track and break Dawood’s empire than hunt him down. He may die in a few years, said an officer, but the empire could flourish under a successor or group of successors.
The Demon Within What makes us human? That’s the question that kickstarts this dark fantasy story, “The Demon Within” by first time author Dilshani Yasodhya.
For those who are hungry for a little fantasy to spice up their book collection, here is a synopsis of this story:
After losing an unfair duel for the throne with his “brother”, the demon Prince, Darius the Ferocious, escapes to the human world as a disembodied soul. In his search for a vessel that can contain him, destiny brings him to a fiveyear-old girl, overflowing with spiritual powers.
The girl -- Maya Winters -unaware of the fact that the strange entity was a demon, agreed to provide him shelter in her vast psyche and promises to build him a new body. For thirteen years Maya works on her promise with dedication, even though she is aware that the task would cost her life. Her ambition of helping her friend does not waver even at the presence of her beloved brother Auden.
Things take a dramatical turn when a new and extremely handsome transfer student shows up at school and take a particular interest in Maya. With Darius’ new body complete, he realises that Maya has become too precious for him to lose. When Maya decides to jump off the school building to her death to allow Darius to break out of the psychic prison he is in, the sheer power of the demon’s desire to save her frees him from the psychic dimension and bring him to the human world.
After defeating the attack of the Demon assassin that was under the guise of the new transfer student Vance Hart, Darius escapes with Maya, to which Auden bears witness. As the demon Prince embarks on the journey of his revenge and redemption with Maya by his side, Auden reluctantly joins forces with Vance Hart or ‘Vanvalear the Serpent’ to find and rescue his sister.
This amazing story is not your typical tale of ‘good vs evil’. Neither does it hold to the characteristic expectations of our perceptions, or expectations. This new spin on demons and dragons and civilians of the underworld explores the legends and
beliefs and the creations of ‘gods’ that reflect our own mortal histories.
Humans may not be at the top of the food chain in this tale of fantasy, but neither are they the representatives of good… at least not all of them. Through the main four characters, the author brings to light the strengths and weaknesses of both humans and demons.
As the characters evolve throughout the story, the reader can dive deep into advanced and complex civilizations of demons, dragons and the mystical beings called The Nyra. What is special about these characters is how we, as humans, can relate to these supernatural beings, empathise and even see ourselves in them -- however flawed or blessed we may be. Sympathy for a demon! Who would have thought! Let’s take a quick peek into the mind of the creator herself.
Dilshani says she took nearly two years to write the book. "The story was originally developed as my final project for the Diploma in Visual Communication at the Academy of Multimedia and Design Technology.
It was developed as a picture book. But the story was far from perfection. So, for the following two years, I edited the manuscript innumerable times until I had a story that met the standards of my own.
I’m a perfectionist, so the standards are really high.
Asked where does she get her ideas for the book, she said, "Everywhere".
Explaining the difficult part of the writing process, Dilshani said, " At one moment, all the ideas are bubbling out of your head, it’s like you can see them floating within your grasp. And the next moment, it’s all gone. Nothing. Sometimes, it’s really hard for me to describe the situation that’s unfolding inside my head into words on paper. That’s why I included illustrations in the book to help out the readers visualise the story. Dark Fantasy is one of the genres in Sri Lankan literature that has a minimum presence. Most of the fantasy stories we read are from western authors or translations of western fantasy stories. This book is the author’s first attempt to close that void and bring
Sri Lankan fantasy literature to a new level.
Lanka’s top legal knights rode out in full force on Thursday to express serious concerns on the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on January 9 last year to probe ‘political victimisation’ during the previous government’s tenure of office, the ‘Yahapalana’ years which spanned between January 9, 2015 and November 16, 2019.
As a preliminary move of taking stock of the entire situation before firing their legal salvos at the controversial report, this elite band of eleven legal luminaries, comprising President’s Counsel K. Kanag-Isvaran, Romesh de Silva, Ikram Mohamed, Faisz Musthapha, Upali Gooneratne, Geoffrey Alagaratnam, Saliya Pieris, Nihal Jayamanne, Upul Jayasuriya, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and U.R.D. Silva jointly signed a letter addressed to the Sri Lanka Bar Association Secretary Rajiv Amarasuriya requesting him ‘'to obtain certified copy of the entirety of the proceedings along with the final report submitted from the President’s Secretary.’
The request to the Bar Association to prepare the brief for the Counsel’s deliberations was, no doubt, occasioned by the growing anxiety prevailing amongst the public whether the Presidential Commission’s report had impugned judicial judgment and trespassed upon hallowed judiciary ground.
This disquiet, which descended upon Hulftsdorp Hill no sooner the report was handed to the President on December 8 last year, intensified further when snippets reached the public domain; and today this unease over the alleged unprecedented
assault on the judiciary pillar of State, finds emphatic echo in the Kanag-Isvaran-led legal A team’s letter when it casts serious concerns that the contents of the report may undermine the rule of law in this country, endanger the independence of the judiciary and erode the impartial and efficient functioning of the AG’s Department.
It is, indeed, a heartening sign that, in an extraordinary standing of unity, these eminent legal friends of the unofficial bar have rallied to lead from the front the just legal crusade to protect the sole fount of all justice, safeguard the judicial integrity, stem the eroding tide from flowing to the AG’s Department and wearing away its rock of impartiality, and prevent the slippery slide into anarchy by upholding the Rule of Law and defending it whenever it’s under threat.
It will also be a morale booster to those who had been in the vanguard of opposition to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry’s report until now. A day earlier the Samagi Jana Balawegaya had taken their political positions and had accused the Commission of ‘arrogating to itself the powers of the judiciary’.
Chief Opposition Whip, SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella told the media: “The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCI) probing the incidents of political victimisation has usurped the powers of courts. It has not been given powers of the courts. The PCI has recommended that cases pending before the Magistrate and High Courts be stopped. Victims have been turned into complainants and complainants into offenders. The PCI has made recommendations to acquit those implicated in numerous offences. The commission has recommended that some who violated the laws be acquitted and compensated. A PCI has no such powers. We have submitted a petition to the Chief Justice on Tuesday against the PCI hijacking the powers of the court.”
Another instance highlighted by the media is the case of former parliamentarian Duminda Silva who was convicted of the murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and was sentenced to death after a threejudge bench of the High Court, appointed by the Chief Justice at the request of the Attorney General, found him guilty, with the presiding judge dissenting.
The appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision was heard by a five judge bench comprising of Chief Justice Priyasath Dep, Justices Buwaneka Aluvihare, Priyantha Jayawardena, Nalin Perera and Vijith Malalgoda. Incidentally Justice Nalin Perera would succeed retiring Chief Justice Dep and the then Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya in April 2019 would in turn succeed retiring Chief Justice Nalin Perera and emerge as the present Chief Justice.
In its unanimous judgment delivered on October 7, 2018, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the lower court. The Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed by the President last January has, however, recommended in its report the acquittal and release of Duminda Silva against the unanimous decision of five Supreme Court judges.
This is but one instance where the Commission is accused of going beyond the distinctly drawn line of duty. Perhaps the entire report subjected to keen legal eagle eyes may reveal plenty more which may be determined as posing a direct challenge to the supreme authority of the Judiciary.
Till then, Lanka’s legal knights have kept their swords sheathed lest the political hue will rust it.