The Clifton neighbourhood is one of the poshest residential neighbourhoods in South Karachi in Pakistan. The former chief minister of Sindh, Mustafa Jatoi, lives here. Bilawal Bhutto, the son of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir, has a posh bungalow in the area.
Along with some famous personalities of Pakistan, there is a notorious fugitive and one of India's most wanted terrorist who has a palatial bungalow in Clifton. He is none other than Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of the 1993 Bombay blasts in which at least 257 people were killed.
For the last 23 years, India has made several attempts to locate and bring back Dawood. Now, for the first time, Pakistan’s lie on Dawood has been exposed, with CNN-News18's sting operators managing to track down the terror don's bungalow. The address is D 13, Block 4, Clifton, Karachi.Full Coverage: The Dawood Ibrahim Sting
There are curious similarities to a similar bungalow, of a similar dreaded terror mastermind -- Osama bin Laden who was by United States of America Navy Seals at around 1 am on May 2, 2011.
To the left of Dawood's bungalow is a beautiful cricket stadium - the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex - which is used to play first class games and is the home ground of the NBP and Karachi provincial cricket teams.
To the right, is the mazar of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, an 8th century Sufi saint who lived and died in Karachi.
The don has even managed to build a masjid inside his compound for him and his family. What is striking is the size of the compound - it can easily fit in four normal sized middle class house.
The entrance lane on both sides is barricaded and has round-the-clock security.
For the last 23 years, India has tried to reason with Pakistan that Dawood is living in Karachi with his family in the posh Clifton neighbourhood with the full knowledge of locals as well as Pakistani administration officials.
India has even provided multiple dossiers to Pakistan in this regard. But the response from the other side has always been denial.
Everyone they came across seemed to know where he lives; it's almost like an open secret in the posh up-market locality of Karachi.
The sting operators pretended they were looking for a contractor who, they said, worked at Dawood's bungalow and owed them money.
The first one they spoke to was a security guard at a bungalow nearby. Here's how that conversation went:
The next person they met was an Afghan refugee who is working as a caretaker, who replied in Pashto: "Dawood's House is not on this street. It is at the rear of this street. You can go there. There is a mosque, you will see the dome of the mosque. Next to the mosque is Dawood's house. There is no gate. It is barricaded. You can go there and ask."
Comments
0 comment