Temkar says bhai’s fine

They are concerned and ignorant lot, but remain ever confident. Oblivious as they are to Islamabad’s pressure on Dawood Ibrahim to leave Pakistan, the residents of congested Pakmodia Street and Temkar mohalla are “confident” that the bhai has not suffered any heart attack. And if at all he has, there was no need for him to be taken to a hospital for he has the “clout” to raise a clinic on his own, they say.

A section of the residents living on either side of the Temkar Street still harbour a peculiar pride in Dawood’s meteoric rise from a local don to a “specially designated global terrorist”. Their sentiments became obvious during a revisit to the “infamous” street and the adjoining Temkar mohalla now that Dawood is back in the spotlight. Residents of Pakmodia Street and Temkar Street said members close to the D-gang and the don’s relatives cannot be “simply led to believe” media reports that he had suffered a heart attack.

In fact, none is even willing to buy facts, dished out by the Indian security agencies, pointing to Dawood being hospitalised at an Islamabad clinic. “Why should the bhai need to be carted to a hospital or a clinic. With the kind of clout he has, he can raise a hospital at his residence,” said an elderly man who lives close to 77/83 and 77/85 Pakmodia Street — the two addresses which once housed the offices of the don-turned-terrorist.

Intelligence sources in New Delhi reported a couple of weeks ago that Dawood had been admitted to an Islamabad hospital following a heart attack. The don, who is believed to have undergone a cosmetic surgery last year, is under constant pressure from the government agencies in Pakistan to leave that country. Sources in the Indian security establishment also said the don could at a convenient time sneak out of Pakistan for any African country.

H Mulla Siraj, who runs a 50-year-old stationery shop at Husainiyah Marg on Pakmodia Street, said, “I last saw Dawood in early 90s. But I must admit he shared a good personal equation with members of the businessmen community on the Pakmodia Street. He never was in trouble with anyone in the mohalla.”

Owners of the bakery shops, STD booths and travel agencies that dot the two congested streets seemed to echo Siraj’s words. Sources said members of the don’s “extended family” too do not believe in newspapers reports, let alone in what Indian intelligence officials believe or have in name of facts.