Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 18: Pakistan on Tuesday maintained a studied silence on questions if it is prepared to hand over international terrorists and dons like Dawood Ibrahim and Hafiz Saeed to India.
Director-General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Mohsin Butt put his fingers on his lips to indicate that he was not authorised to comment on the issue when asked if Pakistan would handover Dawood and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed to India. Both of them are among the most wanted terrorists by the Indian security agencies and both are believed to be living in Pakistan though it never publicly acknowledge the fact.
Butt was part of a two-member delegation from Pakistan participating in the 90th general assembly session of the INTERPOL which opened in New Delhi on Tuesday. The four-day session was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who hit upon the same thought, “global co-operation for uprooting terrorism world-wide.”
The INTERPOL meets once a year and takes all the major decisions affecting general policy, the resources needed for international cooperation, working methods, finances and programmes of activities. These decisions are in the form of resolutions.
The INTERPOL General Assembly meeting is taking place in India after a gap of about 25 years – it was last held in 1997. Each of the 195 member country are being represented by one or several delegates who are typically ministers, chiefs of police, heads of their Interpol National Central Bureaus, and senior ministry officials. Participation of the Pakistani delegation comes despite tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi over cross-border terrorism and Pakistan’s efforts to raise the Kashmir issue in several global forums, including the recently concluded UN General Assembly.
In 2023, INTERPOL will celebrate 100 years since the founding of the International Criminal Police Commission, which then became INTERPOL in 1956. A series of activities are planned to raise awareness of the role of international policing; past, present and future.
Pakistan’s top homeland security agency chief on Tuesday was seen avoiding questions about underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Hafiz Saeed when he was asked the question on the sidelines of the INTERPOL session. Dawood Ibrahim was designated a ‘global terrorist’ by India and the United States in 2003, over his involvement in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. Last month the National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced a cash reward of ₹25 lakh for information leading to his arrest. The reward is in connection with a probe related to ‘D’ Company – Ibrahim’s gang -establishing a unit in India to smuggle arms, explosives, drugs and fake currency notes, and carry out terror attacks in association with Pak agencies and terror outfits.
Hafiz Saeed was added to the NIA’s ‘most wanted’ list for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attack. In April, a Pak court sentenced the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief to four prison sentences ranging from six months to five years over terror financing cases. All are to run concurrently.
Modi addressing the general Assembly at the Pragati Maidan underlined the importance of developing strategies to defeat terrorism worldwide. “Time to look ahead and also look at the past. Our Vedas say let noble thoughts come from all directions and India believes in global cooperation,” Modi said at the inauguration of the INTERPOL general assembly.
“Interpol is approaching a historic milestone. In 2023, it will celebrate its 100 years. This is a call for universal cooperation to make the world a better place. India is one of the top contributors towards UN Peacekeeping Operations,” Modi said.
“When nations and societies are becoming inward-looking, India calls for greater world cooperation… When threats are global, the response can’t be local. It’s high time, the world should come together to defeat these threats,” Modi said.
There is a need to develop international strategies to defeat terrorism worldwide,” Modi added. Modi said INTERPOL could help control proceeds of crimes generated through organised crimes and corruption from being misused by speeding up the process to issue red notices against fugitives.
Modi also released the commemorative postal stamp and commemorative coins of ₹100 denomination on the occasion.
India’s proposal to host the Interpol general assembly in 2022 at New Delhi coinciding with celebrations for the 75th year of India’s independence was accepted by the assembly with overwhelming majority. The event provides an opportunity to showcase the best practices in India’s law and order system to the entire world, an official spokesman of the government said.