Dongri to Dubai

A banker by profession, Salim Ansar has a passion for history and historic books. His personal library already boasts a treasure trove of over 7,000 rare and unique books.

Every week, we shall take a leaf from one such book and treat you to a little taste of history.

BOOK NAME: Dongri to Dubai (Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia)

AUTHOR: S. Hussain Zaidi

PUBLISHER: Roli Books - New Dehli

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2012

The following excerpt has been taken from Pages: 303 - 305 & 323 - 325

“Dongri to Dubai is the first ever attempt to chronicle the history of the Mumbai mafia. It is the story of notorious gangsters like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Varadarajan Mudaliar, Chhota Rajan, Abu Salem, but above all, it is the story of a young man who went astray despite having a father in the police force. Dawood Ibrahim was initiated into crime as a pawn in the hands of the Mumbai police and went on to wipe out the competition and eventually became the Mumbai police's own nemesis.

MAKING OF AN EMPIRE IN PAKISTAN

“Once ensconced in Karachi, Dawood also trained his sights on other Pakistani cities like Lahore. He acquired properties in Madina Market in Lahore, which is similar to Mumbai's Manish Market, and in the Blue Area in Islamabad, which is regarded as one of the prime locations in the Pakistani capital.

“Newsline, a prestigious Pakistani monthly, in its September 2001 issue, carried a detailed article on the presence of Dawood and his men in Karachi and their activities here. The Pakistani media reported that the journalist who wrote this article, Ghulam Hasnain, was detained and harassed by the Pakistani authorities.

"The article stated as follows: 'Dawood Ibrahim and his team, Mumbai's notorious underworld clan, including his right-hand man Chota Shakeel and Jamal Memon [Tiger Memon], are on India's most wanted list for a series of bomb blasts in Mumbai and other criminal activities. After the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, the gang have(sic) made Karachi their new home and operating base. Living under fake names and IDs (identities), and given protection by government agencies, they have built up their underworld operations in Karachi employing local talent like Shoaib and Bholoo.

“'In Pakistan, Dawood managed to establish another huge empire, comprising both legitimate and illegitimate businesses. In fact, the last few years have witnessed Dawood emerge as the don of Karachi. Dawood and his men have made heavy investments in prime properties in Karachi and Islamabad and are major players in the Karachi bourse and in the parallel credit system business-hundi. Dawood is also said to have rescued Pakistan's Central Bank, which was in crisis at one point, by providing a huge dollar loan. His businesses include gold and drug smuggling. The gang is also allegedly heavily involved in (cricket) match-fixing.

“'Not only have the Pakistani authorities turned a blind eye to the gang's activities within Pakistan, but many in the corridors of power have partaken of Dawood's hospitality... He is said to have the protection of assorted intelligence agencies. In fact, Dawood and his men move around the city guarded by heavy escorts of armed men in civics believed to be personnel of a top Pakistani security agency. A number of government undercover agents, who came into contact with Dawood because of their official duties, are now, in fact, working for him. Nearly all the men, who surround him for security reasons, are either retired or serving officers, claims an MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement) activist.

“'According to informed sources, Dawood is Pakistan's number one espionage operative. His men in Mumbai help him get whatever information he needs for Pakistan. Rumour has it that sometimes his men in Karachi accompany Pakistani intelligence agents to the airports to scan arriving passengers and identify RAW (Indian external intelligence) agents.'

“Ghulam Hasnain was so harassed and tormented by the government that he had to flee Pakistan and take refuge in the US.

“One of the most loathed Pakistani figures in India is the former cricketer, Javed Miandad. Quoting India Today's Deputy Editor Sharda Ugra, 'If Sachin Tendulkar was like Superman for India, Miandad was like his villainous counterpart, perhaps dressed in a black uniform. He was one person whose career was built on making Indians miserable.' His last-ball six off Chetan Sharma in the final of the 1986 edition of the Australasia Cup traumatized a generation of Indian cricket lovers almost as much as (and perhaps even more than) it thrilled their Pakistani counterparts.

“In fact the hate was so widespread that Bollywood even started naming their villains after Miandad. For instance, the Dharmendra and Rati Agnihotri-starrer Hukumat, released in 1987, had a corrupt cop named after Javed Miandad. Every time Dharmendra bellowed his name on screen, the audience broke into thunderous applause.

“India would never forgive him, as was evidence by the reaction of spectators (laughter at his expense) at Bangalore's Chinnaswamv Stadium during the World Cup quarter-finals in 1996 when he was run out in what would be his last international match. But what Miandad did nearly two decades later turned him into a far greater recipient of Indian resentment and scorn.

“Miandad announced the wedding of his son Junaid -- a student of business administration at Oxford University -- to Dawood Ibrahim's daughter Mahrukh, who was a student in London. While the engagement was a complete hush-hush affair, news that the two were to be married broke out in January 2005. When asked about it, Miandad reacted angrily, telling people to respect his privacy. However, in June 2005, it was he who confirmed the news and famously claimed that according to Muslims, marriages were made in heaven and as such, he was in no position to challenge the union.

“Later, in an interview to an Indian sports magazine, Miandad said that the marriage had been mooted by his wife, Zubeen Zareen, and Dawood's wife Mehjabeen in December 2004. And soon after, an expensive invitation card was published in a Dubai daily that read, 'Mr and Mrs Dawood Hassan Sheikh Ibrahim announce the wedding ceremony of their daughter Mahrukh to Junaid Miandad, son of Mr and Mrs Javed Miandad, InshaAllah on 23 July 2005'.

“A few days earlier, soon after the wedding was announced, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers had decided to activate their vigilance machinery just to ensure that they could gather enough fodder around Dawood's attendance of the wedding. Any substantial evidence of his participation in the wedding would become part of primary ammo for the Indian government to launch an I-told-you-so campaign against Pakistan. The intelligence think tank was working overtime to try and find a way to make use of this golden opportunity. After all, it was not every day that one had information about exactly where Dawood was going to be at a particular time. The IB knew that this was a chance they could ill afford to waste and it was going to require something a little different this time. The nikah had already been solemnized in Mecca on 9 July and the mehendi and other rituals were to be carried out in Karachi. The stage was set.

“On 23 July, the Grand Hyatt in Dubai would be the venue for the walimah, a post-wedding feast that is hosted by the bridegroom's father. Before the walimah, however, events took an interesting and strange turn. According to observers and members of Indian intelligence agencies, the post-wedding feast was one of the most closely monitored events the world had ever seen. Intelligence agencies from across the world were crawling all over the Grand Hyatt.

“It seemed almost like a global confluence of all the important espionage networks. The CIA's field agents were in position and watching events carefully, MI6 sleuths surrounded the hotel and in their midst were operatives from Mossad, RAW, IB, and a number of unidentified intelligence agents from numerous countries.

“What was most interesting was that most agents were disguised as door attendants, chauffeurs, page boys, media persons, and waiters. Normally, a wedding in Dubai would not attract this sort of attention, but this was no normal wedding. The CIA and its allies were interested in monitoring proceedings because in 2004, Dawood had been declared a global terrorist by the United States. MI6 was there to gather information about the possible perpetrators and planners of the 7 July 2005 blasts in London. They figured that there would definitely be a number of people present at the walimah who would be useful to the investigation. RAW and IB officials were there to find out more about what Dawood was plotting next, as India's enemy number one.

“In September, Dawood was back in Karachi to celebrate and host his eldest son Moin's wedding to a London girl. On 28 September, his son's palatial bungalow, named Moin Villa after him, was filled with all the powerful people affiliated to the don, from politicians and businessmen. The wedding itself was an extravaganza in pomp and grandeur, underlining Dawood's power and unwavering presence in his adoptive country.

The don was back on the throne.

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