Even as reports remained unconfirmed that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim was injured in a scuffle in Karachi on Monday and detained by Pakistani authorities, the controversy acquired political overtones on Tuesday with the BJP demanding that government use all its available leverage to secure the extradition of the key accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.
Seeking to earn brownie points, the main Opposition sought to make political capital out of the controversy even as officials in New Delhi as well as Islamabad refused to confirm or deny the episode. Media reports on Tuesday, quoting unnamed sources, claimed that the head of D-company hurt himself after being involved in a scuffle with his close aides in a Karachi hotel. The reports then said he was whisked away by ISI agents, since it would be foolhardy for Pakistan to acknowledge Dawood?s presence on Pakistani soil.
The BJP, however, maintained that Pakistan would obviously deny the media reports of Dawood?s detention and said that the government should use all requisite diplomatic tools and all other leverages available to it to ensure successful extradition.
?We take note of the reported arrest of Dawood in Pakistan. The government must ensure that the occasion is properly used to expose the patent falsehood of Pakistan,? BJP?s national spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
