New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said India’s “most wanted” terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, accused of masterminding the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts that killed 300 people, has “not been located so far”.

The statement by minister of state for home Haribhai Choudhary, in reply to a written question in Parliament, caused huge embarrassment to the government, which im-mediately reversed its stand and declared that Dawood was in Pakistan India’s stated line is that Dawood is hiding in Pakistan and enjoying “state patronage”.

The statement drew a sharp reaction, with the Congress accusing the government of “weakening” the fight against terror by saying Dawood was untraceable.
Clarifying the issue outside Parliament, MoS home Kiren Rijiju said: “The government stand has always been that Dawood is in Pakistan.”

His colleague Haribhai Chaudhury, who delivered the written reply in the Lok Sabha on behalf of the home ministry, asked senior ministry officials to explain the goof-up.

A red-faced home ministry, that is claiming the “error” may be the result of a bureaucratic goof-up, may come back to the Lok Sabha in Wednesday with a revised reply. However, the home ministry, during UPA rule in 2013, is learnt to have given a similar reply. Officials even claimed that the MHA prepares the reply in consultation with the external affairs ministry.

• India has long held that Dawood is sheltering in Pakistan and that Islamabad must extradite him to India.
• June 2006: US named Dawood and D Company as narcotics traffickers
• October 2003: US treasury department named Dawood as a global terrorist
•  UN Security Council has also issued a special notice for Dawood.

Source: DC