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Underworld strife boils
over
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The latest terror attack in Pakistan,
on the Crown Plaza building in Karachi last Friday in
which two people were killed, was another in a long saga
of underworld clashes in the region, and could herald
that more are on the way.
Friday's attack took
place at about 7:45 in the morning, before the main rush
hour in the city had begun, so casualties were not as
severe as they could have been. The building, known as
Kawish Crown Plaza, like many others on the same stretch
of road, was constructed in violation of building rules,
but no action has been taken against it as it was built
by the don of all dons, Dawood Ibrahim, a kingpin in the
underworld across South Asia and beyond.
Dawood
(David as he is called by some friends) hails from
Mumbai in India, where he is wanted in connection with a
number of criminal acts, including the infamous Bombay
blasts of 1993. He has lived in Karachi for some time,
although he was not in the port city at the time of the
attack.
Indeed, his absence emboldened the
attackers, who were from the rival Chota Rajan group,
according to another well-known mafia figure who spoke
to Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity. He said
the attacks were meant as a warning that Jamal Memon,
alias Tiger Memon, the trusted lieutenant of Dawood
Ibrahim who uses the building, was vulnerable.
Chota Rajan was once a part of Dawood's team,
but they parted company in acrimonious circumstances
several years ago over Chota Rajan's attempts to muscle
into Dawood's control over much of Bollywood in Mumbai.
It is a virtual open secret that India's external
intelligence outfit, the Research and Analysis Wing
(RAW), has cultivated Chota Rajan against Dawood.
Chota Shakeel, another trusty lieutenant of
Dawood, plotted to kill Chota Rajan in Bangkok some
years ago, aided by Karachi underworld members who
included Shoiab Khan, Ibrahim Bholo and Khalid
Shahenshah. The scheme failed but a few of the Rajan's
gang were killed. Since that time, the gangs have been
at war, with the intelligence agencies of both Pakistan
and India trying to extract some benefit.
While
Chota Rajan was been nurtured by RAW, Dawood has managed
to use Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence to his
advantage for operations in India. Chota Rajan is
believed even to draw financial support from RAW, while
Dawood generates his own resources through his illegal
businesses, such as gambling dens in South Africa,
Bangkok, Dubai and Mumbai. At the same time he has
established very powerful crime syndicates in Malaysia,
Thailand, Hong Kong, Nepal, India and Pakistan. These
syndicates are his real strength and keep him ahead of
other underworld leaders. The syndicates are involved in
murder, the heroin trade and smuggling. Dawood Ibrahim
is the charismatic leader who holds these at times
feuding syndicates together.
Apart from real
estate and films (where leading actresses still fawn
over him to secure parts), Dawood has his fingers in
many other pies. He is known to be involved in illegal
gambling on cricket, and can still be seen entertaining
players and officials. He has even developed his own
religious circle, which is dead against jihadis. His
circle of "Breilvi" clerics sing poetry in praise of the
Prophet Mohammed.
A few months ago Dawood lost a
daughter, after which he became more religious,
apparently gave up drinking and began praying five times
a day. However, a few weeks ago he was very much back to
his old habits and presenting guests with the finest
whisky, and enjoying some himself.
Dawood
appears, though, to be spending more time out of
Karachi, and is nested somewhere else, possibly in the
capital Islamabad. But he is still the undisputed don,
and a long way from the clutches of his bitter enemy
Chota Rajan, or RAW for that matter.
(Copyright
2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved.
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