The Dawood obsession

Dawood Ibrahim, head of the organised crime syndicate D-Company, qualifies as India’s public enemy No. 1 now. His one time ally, Chhota Rajan, now his enemy, is just about to set foot in this country again after having been nabbed by the police forces of Indonesia who were acting on a tip-off from Australian intelligence. But the point to ponder is whether India’s obsession with Dawood Ibrahim is ever likely to fetch tangible results so far as controlling crime in the country is concerned.

This national fervour for Dawood’s “ghar wapsi (homecoming)” can be a futile exercise because Pakistan is not going to give him up voluntarily regardless of international pressure on turning in a wanted criminal. After all, Pakistan’s dubious track record — including giving protection to terrorists — was made evident for the world to see in the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town. In such an event, it should hardly matter where Dawood is resident at the moment — in Karachi or in the Af-Pak frontier.

The point is India has much to do in Chhota Rajan’s interrogation as the insights to be gained from another mob head who operated freely in Mumbai’s underworld in the 1990s could be useful in cracking the work of crime syndicates in India. Gangs are still running hawala operations, smuggling gold, running cricket betting rackets and are involved in illegal film duplication, all activities that fund terrorism in some way. To get serious about tackling crime seems a far greater priority than harping on the return of Dawood Ibrahim.