While the recent arrest of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, Al Qaeda’s
number-three man, is a significant victory in the war on terror,
another largely overlooked arrest gives even more reason to
rejoice. Ijju Sheikh, a fugitive suspect in one of India’s worst
terrorist attacks, was arrested in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) on
April 29. His capture shows that the noose is tightening on a
sinister transnational mafia that both supports al Qaeda’s
existence, and imperils India’s.
On March 12, 1993, a series of explosions ripped through the
streets of Mumbai, killing 257 Indians and injuring 713. The serial
attack, presaging Al Qaeda’s coordinated-bombing modus
operandi, involved nearly simultaneous detonation of car-bombs
across the city in crowded bazaars and near major hotels and
Mumbai’s stock exchange. While India is no stranger to political
violence, the attack has been retroactively dubbed “India’s 9-11”
for its shock and devastation.
Ijju Sheikh stands accused of smuggling the RDX explosives used
in the bombing. Once a hotelier and sarpanch (city council chief)
with political connections, Sheikh fled to Dubai after the bombing
and only recently snuck back into India. He is also accused of
smuggling gold and weapons, as well as being a top henchman to
international gangster and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.
Ibrahim, the alleged mastermind of the 1993 bomb plot, is
possibly the closest thing to a real-life Keyser Soze, the
legendary mastermind of The Usual Suspects.
Counterfeiting, assassination attempts on rivals in Bangkok,
extorting Bollywood film studios, gunrunning to Africa, large-scale
heroin smuggling to Europe — Ibrahim and his violent “D-Company”
gang do it all, all across the world. Despite fleeing India after
the bombing, he is still alleged to control much of the
subcontinent’s underworld from exile.
But Dawood Ibrahim is more than just a sinister criminal and
narcoterrorist; he is also a supporter of Al Qaeda. On October 17,
2003, the U.S. Treasury Department declared him a terrorist and
froze his assets. According to Treasury, Osama bin Laden and his organization
use Ibrahim’s smuggling routes for a fee. (Treasury does not reveal
exactly what Osama smuggles along those routes.) Furthermore,
Ibrahim is a financial backer of the Pakistan-based terrorist
organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, which continues horrific attacks
inside India, including the December 2001 assault on India’s
parliament. When al Qaeda bigshot Abu Zubaydah was arrested in Faisalabad, he was hiding in a
Lashkar-e-Taiba safehouse.
In case you’re not worried yet, this journalist reports that Dawood Ibrahim may be “operating an
airline from a Central Asian republic.” The republic may be
Nepal, where D-Company has invested in the local
branch of an airline. Granted, Nepal’s passenger carriers are not
exactly in the market for the new jumbo Airbus.
But a drug-running Islamic terrorist with his own airline? That
ought to focus the mind.
Ijju Sheikh’s arrest may shed light on the relationship to the
1993 bombing of another group reputed to have close ties to
terrorists — Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). Evidence
introduced at the trial of some other suspects in the 1993 bombing
suggests that Ibrahim undertook the bombing at the ISI’s behest,
and with their logistical support, in retaliation for India’s
demolition of a mosque. Whether or not further evidence emerges on
that front, the ISI also stands accused of sheltering Ibrahim in
Karachi Karachi. Pakistan vehemently denies these
accusations; however, the U.S. declaration of Ibrahim’s terrorist
status listed his location as Pakistan, and noted that he held a
Pakistani passport.
The same ISI, however, also captured Al-Qaeda’s Al-Libbi,
Zubaydah, and suspected 9-11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammed.
They are receptive to U.S. pressure and still eager to prove
themselves allies in our terror war. It is difficult to fathom the
Byzantine internal politics that allow the ISI to protect one
terrorist even as it captures these others. That they protect
Ibrahim instead of giving him up suggests that he knows something
incriminating, and that India’s suspicions are true.
Regardless of their reasons for giving Dawood Ibrahim sanctuary,
the ISI is not stupid. It must realize that with the capture of
Ijju Sheikh, the evidence of Ibrahim’s whereabouts is mounting and
it becomes ever harder to deny the obvious. The ISI can dawdle as
Dawood Ibrahim becomes a huge albatross around its neck, or it can
take the initiative and surrender him to face Indian justice.
American diplomacy and media pressure may help tip the balance.
Or perhaps Ibrahim will realize he has overstayed his welcome,
and he will leave Pakistan before the ISI decides to bury its
mistakes.
