Rising clout of Dawood and Ilyas is a worry for India

Dawood Ibrahim and Ilyas Kashmiri are perhaps the biggest threats to world peace today. Even as the United States called upon Pakistan to keep a tab on the activities of the duo in the country, Indian intelligence agencies believe that India faced a much greater threat from them than the rest of the world.

Sources suggest that in the days to come, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence would position Dawood and Ilyas in such a way that they would contribute the worst forms of terror.

IB sources tell rediff.com that Dawood and the ISI have become inseparable. Earlier, he was associated with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba only. But, as of today, Dawood is the main financier for all terror groups.

Sources point out that Dawood, at first, was reluctant to switch over from being a don to a full-fledged terrorist. However, he had no option. He was specifically told that if he needed to keep his drug business going, he would have to use his network to smuggle arms.

Over the years, Dawood built an empire in almost every corner of the world. The ISI has used this network to its advantage and all arms and ammunition needed for terror activities are smuggled in or out by Dawood's gang.

In the past few years, the same syndicate was used by the ISI to even smuggle fake Indian currency and utilise those funds for terror operations.

For India, the worrying fact is that the Lashkar corners a lion share of the funds generated by Dawood's gang.

The Dawood gang's network is strongest in Africa, India and the Gulf region. His operatives in these countries not only help raise funds, but also smuggle arms and shift terror operatives.

Ilyas Kashmiri

The US is on hot pursuit of Ilyas. He is believed to be the mastermind of the bombings that targeted the CIA office in Afghanistan. However, Ilyas poses an even larger threat to India. The ISI let this man slip out of their hands after he defied them and fought US troops in Waziristan.

But there is nothing much that the ISI would do to him, as he is slowly shifting focus to India operations and this suits the ISI perfectly. According to US stratgegic think-tank, Stratfor, there is every chance of some terror groups in Pakistan trying to launch a Mumbai-type attack on India to escalate tensions between the two countries.

The Intelligence Bureau says that Ilyas would play a very crucial role in such an operation since he was unhappy with the manner in which India was interfering in Afghanistan. He has taken a back seat from fighting the war against the US and is now positioning his men against India.

Al Qaeda trusts Ilyas and his capabilities, and believes that he can train fidayeen (suicide bombers) to launch deadly strikes.