1993 Mumbai serial blasts: Tiger Memon was never a priority

Bengaluru, July 22: The hanging of Yakub Memon does provide some amount of solace for all those families who lost their loved ones in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. While there is some amount of solace, the bigger question is does it give them the closure?

Yakub Memon is one among the many who played a role in the 1993 serial blasts, but then one needs to look at the larger picture and that is where are the bigwigs such as Tiger Memon, Dawood Ibrahim, Mohammad Dosa and 32 others? To cut a long story short most of the accused in the 1993 blasts have not just absconded but also flourished and this cuts a very sorry picture.

After the 1993 blasts, many of the top guns such as Dawood, Tiger and Dosa went out of the radar of the Indian Intelligence agencies. Most of them had pre-planned their escape and took shelter in Dubai and Karachi. Between 1993 and 1996 there was a cooling off period and none of these men attempted anything major.

However the dark reality was that while the investigators continued to dig for details within India, the governments never made getting these men back their priority. Intelligence Bureau officials say that the required push to bring these men back to India and try them was missing. Governments need to take the lead in such matters and where these accused were concerned there was a great amount of pressure not to push their case hard.

The likes of Dawood and Tiger were well aware of the stand that was being taken. After the cooling off period of three years, they realized that an extradition was out of the question and this was when they began flourishing. Tiger Memon began a full fledged real estate business in Dubai and travelled to Karachi very often. Dosa on the other hand became the point man for all hawala deals of the D company from West Asia. About Dawood, everyone is aware of how he turned out to be Pakistan's most strategic asset.

No government was ever serious about Tiger or Dawood:

If there is one thing that the governments since 1993 have done well in raising the Dawood or Tiger issue it is issuing hard hitting statements. The reality is that these persons were never placed on the Number One priority list. There were a few Intelligence Bureau officials who had tried to take it upon themselves to set up a trap for these terrorists, but it was foiled due to leaking out of information.

IB officials say that it is wrong to say that India did not have the capabilities to chase down these terrorists. However since these men were out of the country, there is a backing which is needed from the government. It is the governments which have to order placing such persons on the priority list and this in turn helps both the internal and external intelligence agencies of the country to chase down these men.

However, all that India did since 1993 was place these persons on the wanted list. The wanted list relating to Dawood Ibrahim (http://cbi.nic.in/rnotice/53.A-135-4-1993.html) continues to have a very old photograph. There is not much updated about him on the wanted list.

In the case of Memon (http://cbi.nic.in/rnotice/52.A-127-4-1993.html) there are very few details available. He walks briskly swinging his hands and hips has been described as his main characteristic.

In the case of Mohammad Dosa (http://www.cbi.nic.in/rnotice/64.A-351-8-1993.html) it is quite shocking to see that there are hardly any details.

While these persons continue to flourish in Karachi, Dubai and West Asia, there are several others in this case who have gone completely out of the radar. An officer says that there was never any will.

While the investigations conducted into the 1993 blasts is considered to be one of the best at the end of it it is a case of, " we know everything about the conspirators, but where are they and will they ever be brought to justice?"

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