WASHINGTON : India may seek US’ help for extradition of Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of 1993 Mumbai blasts, as they vowed to make “joint and concerted efforts” to dismantle safe havens for terror and criminal networks like LeT, JeM, D-company, Al-Qaeda and Haqqani network.
A US-India Joint Statement expressing this resolve after the summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama at the White House yesterday came on a day the US Treasury Department slapped sanctions against individuals and networks linked to two militant groups based in Pakistan.
“The leaders stressed the need for joint and concerted efforts, including the dismantling of safe havens for terrorist and criminal networks, to disrupt all financial and tactical support for networks such as Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, the D-company, and the Haqqanis,” the statement said while referring to issues relating to Homeland Security Cooperation.
D-company is a reference to Dawood Ibrahim, an underworld don and India’s most wanted man who is the mastermind of the March 12, 1993 serial bomb blasts that rocked the western metropolis at various places, killing more than 250 people and injuring over 700.
The statement is considered significant as Dawood is widely believed to be in Pakistan, and the Haqqani network, which has been active along the Afghanistan border, has been working against both Indian and US interests. Dawood is also believed to often shuttle between Dubai and Karachi.
Indications were that India would seek US help in getting Dawood extradited to face trial in India.
Indian External Affairs Ministry officials declined to elaborate on the Dawood issue beyond the resolve of the two countries to fight terror and criminal elements as reflected in the joint statement.
“Samajdhar ke liye ishara hi kafi hai” (A hint is enough for a wise person),” the ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters in reply to questions in this regard.
In October 2003, the US designated Dawood as a global terrorist having links with Al Qaeda and financing activities of LeT and other terrorist organisations.
Pledging to intensify cooperation in counter-terrorism and security, the two countries also agreed to step up intelligence sharing.
Sharing concerns over the threat of terrorism in South Asia and emerging challenges in West Asia, where Islamist group ISIS has been on the rampage, Modi during a joint media appearance with Obama said the two countries agreed to intensify cooperation in counter terrorism and intelligence sharing.
Modi and Obama also reiterated their call for Pakistan to bring to justice the perpetrators of the November 2008 terror attack which killed 166 people.
Prime Minister Modi and President Obama reaffirmed their deep concern over the continued threat posed by terrorism, most recently highlighted by the dangers presented by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant(ISIL).
The two leaders also committed to identify modalities to exchange terrorist watch lists.
Prime Minister Modi in his address to the UN General Assembly last Saturday said that terrorism was taking “new shape and new name” and no country, big or small was free from its threat.
Without naming Pakistan, Modi said even today “states allow terrorist sanctuaries on their territory or use terrorism as instruments of their policy”.
While “extremism and fault lines” were growing in West Asia, Modi said, “our own region continues to face the destabilising threat of Terrorism”.
The US Treasury Department yesterday slapped sanctions against a top leader of Pakistan-based terrorist group Harakat ul-Mujahadeen, and two financial conduits of LeT that has been involved in a series of attacks in India, including the 2008 Mumbai strike.
In a statement, the Treasury Department said it has placed sanctions on Fazl-ur Rehman Khalil, a founder of Harakat ul-Mujahadeen, or HUM, which was listed by the US State Department in 1997 as a foreign terror organisation.
The terror group operates throughout India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Last year, the group renamed itself Ansar al-Umma. The US State Department amended its listing of HUM this year to include the new name.
The statement said that Khalil has been involved in directing the terror group’s affairs and maintained control over its financial decisions in his capacity as leader.
He kept a close relationship with al-Qaeda, including with its chief Osama bin Laden until his death, it added.
The Treasury also placed sanctions on Muhammad Naeem Sheikh and Umair Naeem Sheikh for acting on behalf of, and for providing financial support to LeT.
Naeem has been a member of LeT since its early days, and he has been responsible for soliciting wealthy businessmen to fund the group, the statement said.
Umair has been one of the LeT’s “most significant financial supporters”, Treasury said, saying he has served as a financial courier to the head of its Afghanistan operations.
The Treasury also targeted their companies, Abdul Hameed Shahab-Ud-Din and Nia International, with sanctions.
The Treasury action freezes their assets in any US jurisdiction and bans US citizens from doing business with them. (AGENCIES)
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