Pakistani envoy does U-turn on Dawood Ibrahim; India says 1993 Mumbai blast case dossier never closed

A day after senior Pakistan diplomat admitted that one of India's most wanted terrorists Dawood Ibrahim was in his country, India on Saturday said the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast dossier has "never" been closed and it will not rest till those responsible for the heinous attacks were brought to justice.

"We too have seen the reports which have been attributed to an official of the Pak government. The 1993 Mumbai bomb blast dossier has never been closed by us. Therefore, now that we have received more information about it, we will not rest till those responsible of 1993 attack against our citizens in Mumbai are brought to justice wherever they are.

"We will continue to pursue this," the spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry said.

Dawood is wanted for coordinating the bombings in 1993 in Mumbai, through one of his subordinates, Tiger Memon, during which over 250 people were killed and hundreds of others injured.

Yesterday, Islamabad's pointsman for Track-II dialogue with India, Shahryar Khan had said Ibrahim had once lived in Pakistan. This was the first time that a Pakistani official had acknowledged the mob boss' presence in the country.

"Dawood was in Pakistan but I believe he was chased out of Pakistan. If he is in Pakistan, he should be hounded and arrested. We cannot allow such gangsters to operate from the country," Khan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's special envoy for Track-II dialogue with India, had said.

He had said if Ibrahim was in Pakistan, he would have been arrested by now.

Khan made the remarks while talking to reporters at a pre-launch event organised in London by the Indian Journalists' Association for his latest book "Cricket Cauldron: The Turbulent Politics of Sport in Pakistan".

However, Khan made a U-turn on his remarks and said he had no idea whether the gangster was in the country.

"I have never, never, when I was in the Foreign Ministry or now... (I) do not know where Dawood Ibrahim lives. I am only reflecting what the press has been saying, the Pakistani press have been saying about the gentleman," Khan told the media.

"The Ministry of Interior would have probably known but the Foreign Ministry does not. I have no idea whether he is in Pakistan, if he ever has been (there)," he said.