Author: Ghulam Husnain, Newsline
Magazine
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: September 14, 2001
With Mumbai's blood on his hands,
Dawood fled to Karachi where 'Islamabad helped him re-start crime in return
for spying'
It was the normal afternoon traffic
rush on Malir Road. As a prison van slowed down before Malir Bridge, several
armed men who were lying in wait showered it with a hail of Kalashnikov
bullets. The shooting was so intense that none of the 10 policemen who
were escorting Karachi's top gambling den operator Shoaib Khan aka Shoiab
Rummywalla back to prison got a chance to even fire back. The attack left
four policemen dead, while Shoaib, two pedestrians and four other policemen
received multiple bullet wounds.
Senior police officials believe
the attack was carried out by the Haji Ibrahim Bholoo group. Bholoo, Shoaib's
former business partner, has been missing since January this year and Shoaib
is held responsible for his disappearance and possible murder.
Karachi's two rival underworld gangs,
both working for Dawood Ibrahim, are now settling their scores on the city's
streets. Dawood, his right hand Chhota Shakeel and Jamal (Tiger) Memon,
are on India's most wanted list. After the 1993 Mumbai blasts, they have
made Karachi their new home and base of operations. Living under fake names
and IDs and given protection by government agencies, they have built up
its underworld empire in Karachi by employing local talents like Shoaib
and Bholoo.
So far, Karachi was infamous for
ethnic anti-sectarian killings. But the arrival of underworld mega-bucks
has brought a new dimension to the city's crime profile as warring gangs
fight pitched battles on Karachi's streets. With Dawood Ibrahim operating
out of Karachi, with the apparent blessings of the government, the Shoaib
incident might well be the first of a series of Mumbai-style mafia wars.
''To win the loyalty of a person
is the most difficult task in the world,'' Dawood Ibrahim, 46, would tell
his brother gangsters. People who have worked for the Mumbai underworld
known as the 'Gold Man', maintain he never abandons his men. But Dawood
does not brook fools either or those who disobey him. Those who betray
him usually do so at the cost of their lives.
Ibrahim lives like a king. Home
is a palatial house spread over 6,000 square yards, boasting a pool, tennis
courts, a snooker room and a private hi-tech gym. He wears designer clothes,
drives top of the line Mercedes and luxurious four-wheel drives, sports
a Parek Phillipe wrist watch worth half a million rupees and showers money
on starlets and prostitutes.
He bought Lahore model Saba a house
and a car. Nor does he shirk his obligations. Mandakini of Ram Tera Ganga
Maili fame, a former Bollywood actress with whom he had a child, is reportedly
still being supported by him.
Dawood wakes up in the afternoon.
After a swim and shower, he has breakfast and briefs his employees on their
assignments. They give him daily reports of his myriad businesses.
If in the mood, he engages in a
game of cricket or snooker with friends. And as the sun sets, Dawood and
his party set off for any one of his 'safe houses' in Karachi for an evening
of revelry - usually comprising drinks (Black Label is his preference),
mujras and gambling.
The long-married Dawood's passion
for women has made him a favoured client for local pimps. ''He prefers
young girls. And is a good paymaster. If the market rate for a woman is
10,000 rupees, Dawood pays 100,000 rupees. He is thus always surrounded
by Pakistan's top call girls,'' discloses one of his family friends.
Carousing through the night, Dawood
and his companions quit only at dawn and then collectively offer prayers.
This has been his routine for years. After the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts,
Dawood fled to Pakistan, managing to smuggle out his family - comprising
his wife, four daughters and a son - and close associates and their families.
(A 12-year-old daughter subsequently died of malaria and is buried in Pakistan).
Today, they are all Pakistani passport holders.
In Pakistan, Dawood has managed
to establish another huge empire, comprising both legitimate and illegitimate
businesses. In fact, the last few years have seen him emerge as the don
of Karachi. His net worth has been estimated at close to 90 billion rupees.
Dawood and his men have made heavy
investments in prime properties in Karachi and Islamabad, and are major
players on the Karachi bourse and in the parallel credit system business
called hundi. Dawood is also said to have rescued Pakistan's Central Bank
from a crisis by providing a huge dollar loan. His businesses include gold
and drug smuggling. The gang is also allegedly heavily involved in match-fixing.
Dawood's influence among the Pakistani cricket players is well known -
a senior Pakistan cricket official met Dawood to get the names of those
Pakistani cricketers involved in betting.
Some Pakistani cricket players admit
that at one time or another, they have sought Dawood's help. Javed Miandad
is allegedly very close to Dawood Ibrahim, and his recent stint in cricket,
despite opposition from players, was reportedly at Dawood's behest.
Dawood's sphere of influence has
also encompassed businessmen who increasingly approach him to settle disputes
or for bailouts. Some former MQM militants are apparently also working
for Dawood. However, his growing influence has irked Karachi's powerful
ethnic group, the Mohajirs, who feel he is trespassing.
The don and his boys at home in
Karachi Just a street behind Karachi's famous Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine
in Clifton is a palatial yellow brick mansion guarded around the clock
by dozens of men armed with automatic weapons. The street which leads to
the house is closed to public traffic. The occupant of this house: Dawood
Ibrahim.
Also in Karachi is Chhota Shakeel
- whom Dawood affectionately calls baccha (child). He is wanted in India
for 30 criminal cases. Shuttling between Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia and
Australia, Shakeel (50) lives in a palatial house in Karachi's Defence
Housing Authority, guarded by men in civvies.
Jamal Memon, commonly known in the
Mumbai underworld as Tiger Memon, owns among other things a multi-storeyed
building topped with a glittering glass crown known as Kashf Crown on the
main Sharah-e-Faisal Boulevard. When an NGO, Shehri, protested the illegal
construction, which apparently violates all building bye-laws, they were
asked to withdraw the case by a government undercover agent.
''The ISI told us it's a Dawood
Ibrahim building,'' said a Shehri activist. ''They said, this is a man
who has done a lot for Pakistan, so we should not raise our voice against
the building.'' After the Mumbai blasts, Dawood's men admitted that Jamal
Memon had gone ahead without consulting either Dawood or other gang members.
After a meeting with a group of mullahs, Jamal Memon was apparently so
enraged when he heard of Hindu atrocities against Muslims in the wake of
the Babri mosque incident that he vowed to teach Hindus a lesson they would
never forget. Memon planted the explosives in 15 different locations. ''Bagair
soche samjhe pathake phar diye,'' said a Dawood man. ''Sara blueprint kharab
kar diya, warna pata bhi nahin chalta''.
''Earlier, whether it was a case
of financial dispute or the construction or regularisation of an illegal
building, people came to us. Now all of them are going to Dawood,'' remarked
a former lender of Altaf Hussain's MQM.
Not only have Pakistani authorities
turned a blind eye to the gang's activities, but many in the corridors
of power have partaken of his hospitality. Dawood often throws lavish mujras
for Pakistani politicians and bureaucrats. A recent guest was a former
caretaker Prime Minister.
He is also said to have the protection
of assorted intelligence agencies. Dawood and his men move around Karachi
guarded by escorts of armed men. A number of government undercover agents,
who came into contact with Dawood because of their official duties, are
now working for him.
''A major serves him a glass
of water. Nearly all the men who surround him for security reasons are
either retired or serving officers,'' claims an MQM activist. ''And he
keeps them happy - keeping them in expensive apartments and showering them
with favours. So they are more loyal to Dawood than the government of Pakistan.''
Why is he allowed to operate with
such impunity?
According to informed sources, Dawood
is Pakistan's number one espionage operative. His men in Mumbai help him
get whatever information he needs for Pakistan. Rumour has it that sometimes,
his men in Karachi accompany Pakistani intelligence agents to airports
to scan arriving passengers and identify RAW agents.
Yet, there is nostalgia for the
home left behind. Dawood is set to often cry for Mumbai. ''Mumbai was Mumbai.
There we had everything. Here, one cannot have the life or the fun we did
in India,'' said one of his associates.