The Manmohan Singh government has renewed its efforts to get back India’s most wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and terrorists like Masood Azhar from Pakistan.
The central government feels that Pakistan is under tremendous pressure after the Mumbai terror attacks and wants to use this opportunity to get back some of the noted criminals whom it believes are enjoying the safe shelters of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in Pakistan.
Although India has been trying to get Dawood and others from Pakistan for many years, till date the efforts haven’t yielded results.
Meanwhile, after recording strong verbal protests about the alleged links of Pakistani elements in the recent Mumbai terror strike, the external affairs ministry today summoned Pakistan High Commissioner in Delhi, Shahid Malik, and issued a démarche to him. Malik was called by Joint Secretary (Pakistan) in the ministry, TCA Raghavan, who issued a démarche to him on the Mumbai strikes.
A démarche is a formal diplomatic representation to seek information or persuade foreign government. A démarche is considered as a strong diplomatic protest action by government. In the demarche too, India has asked the Pak government to hand over fugitives like Dawood.
India, through the démarche, has once again asked Pakistan to fulfil its commitments to contain terror breeding on its soil.
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According to top government sources, deportation of even a few fugitives from Pakistan will not only be a big diplomatic win but also a major political leverage for the Congress which is reeling under criticisms for not acting tough on terror. “There is a long-pending list of 20 fugitives like Dawood. Even if we can get 3-4 of them, it will be a major step in curbing terrorism,” said a senior minister.
However, Pakistani authorities have consistently maintained that Dawood doesn’t live in Pakistan.