‘For months, ISI has been wanting Dawood dead’
Agencies in India confirm that there has been unprecedented cooperation in matters of high security importance as a consequence of the close relationship formed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterparts in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with Qatar being the outlier on account of its dependence on Turkey for access as a consequence of the four-nation blockade of Doha within the GCC. An official, who has been tasked with keeping an eye on the D-company stated that in the past few months, the decision makers at General Headquarters (GHQ),
Rawalpindi, the headquarters of the Pakistan army, has come under a lot of pressure after relevant agencies from the United States and the United Kingdom (who were being regularly briefed by Indian agencies, R&AW and NTRO) generated multiple real time evidence and presented irrefutable proof of Dawood’s location and his presence in Karachi and Islamabad to friendly powers openly unhappy with the way in which China has been misusing its UNSC veto to block action against known international terrorists protected by GHQ Rawalpindi.
Reportedly, PM Modi has ordered the creation of a specific R&AW desk that was constantly generating fresh inputs regarding Dawood’s activities and presence in Pakistan, which was being shared with the relevant agencies of the US and UK. The PM’S purpose was to bring him to justice, “come what may”, a source revealed. Prime Minister Modi’s relentless secret diplomacy with friendly powers resulted in external pressure that Islamabad found impossible to bear in the context of the desperate need of Pakistan for funds to rescue its economy.
According to the official, it was expected that in the coming months, Pakistan PM Imran Khan would have been asked by the Western countries, with pressure from agencies like FATF and IMF, to extradite Dawood to the United States. From there, the don would have been sent to Delhi. Hence, the officials at GHQ, Rawalpindi decided to eliminate him before succumbing to such a scenario. His extradition to the US or to India would have opened the proverbial can of worms, which would have put the entire leadership of the Pakistan army under the spotlight. The pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China, proved a credible way of taking out an asset who had long outlived his utility to his financially strapped hosts.
Pakistan is unlikely to announce or accept his death, ever, because officially Pakistan has maintained that Dawood was not inside their country’s borders. On the contrary, denials are expected from his family members, who do and say what the ISI wants them to.
In July 2019, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), while seeking the extradition of one of Dawood’s close aides, Jabir Motiwala, had stated that Dawood was based in Pakistan. Motiwala, who was arrested from London in August 2018 during a raid at Hilton hotel, North London, is presently lodged in Wandsworth prison, London awaiting the formal clearance of his extradition from the UK Home Department. His extradition was allowed by the UK court after the FBI presented multiple audio and video tapes in the courts that showed Motiwala regularly interacting with the Karachi based Dawood and taking instructions on how to manage drug trafficking activities and finance operations in US and Europe.