After Mumbai 1993, Dawood now targets Delhi

Pakistan based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim has asked his associates in Maharashtra to carry out bomb blasts in Delhi, targeting the New Delhi railway station, Metro stations, Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi Secretariat and the Delhi Legislative Assembly, according to an input that has been generated by Indian intelligence agencies.

This input, which was received by the Intelligence Bureau and shared with the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) and verified by other agencies, has the name and the details of a Pune based associate of Dawood who has been entrusted with the planning of the attack.

Intelligence officials said that an individual from the Hindu community, who is into arms supply, has been entrusted with the planning of the operation. “In all previous instances, Dawood, who takes his orders from Pakistan’s ISI, has used Muslim men as planners but this time he has trusted a Hindu despite having men he trusts from the Muslim community among his people,” an official said.

Officials believe that Dawood and the ISI want to target Delhi rather than Mumbai, which they had targeted in the past in 1993, in order to give a message that they can carry out subversive activities even in the political capital of the country, which is easily the most guarded city in India.

“A serial blast in the places that they want to target will negatively impact the image of the country internationally apart from causing a huge number of fatalities. This is what the ISI wants to achieve,” the official said.

According to officials, the interrogation and tracking of his known associates in India and Dubai have revealed that the don was desperate to carry out attacks in India as he was under pressure from the ISI. “After the 1993 Mumbai attack, his associates had to lie low for many years and many of them took proper jobs, all arranged by Dawood. But he is coming under pressure to prove his worth as he has not done anything ‘big’ for a long time,” the official said.