Dawood 'does not live in Karachi'

Pakistan yesterday rejected a US claim that alleged terrorist Dawood Ibrahim wanted by New Delhi in connection with a spate of bombings in India was living in Karachi.

The foreign ministry in a statement said Thursday's notification on the Internet by US Treasury Secretary's department that "presumes" the presence of the man in Pakistan was based on incorrect information.

It urged the US to "rectify" the error. The statement said the US failed to clearly identify the individual as Indian national despite the background information given in the notification regarding his involvement in criminal activities in India and the Gulf. The US notification branded the man a "global terrorist."

The government of Pakistan has on several occasions in the past categorically denied the presence of the Indian national Dawood Ibrahim on Pakistani soil, the Pakistani statement said.

Despite these clarifications fresh inquires were conducted, which have revealed that a Pakistani passport number G-869537 given by the US government to be allegedly in possession of Dawood in fact belongs to one Imtiaz Hussain, it said.

Similarly the locator telephone number given as 92215892038 has been checked and it does not belong to any person named Dawood Ibrahim or Sheikh Dawood Hussain, the statement added. "These facts have been conveyed to the US. Dawood Ibrahim does not have a Pakistani travel document nor he is residing in any part of Pakistan. As the locators given by the US are not correct the US should rectify the alleged and unsubstantiated linkage to Pakistani documentation and location."

Separately, foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan flayed a statement by Indian Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani that a new chapter in bilateral ties could be opened if Islamabad handed over Dawood Ibrahim and 19 other suspects whose list was given to Pakistan last year. "Relations between India and Pakistan cannot be improved on the basis of a wrong presumption," the spokesman said.

"There are no Indian suspects on our soil. We have not given shelter to any Indian national, one or 19 or 20," he said.

India has so far provided no evidence about presence of Indian suspects in Pakistan, he said, adding that the Indian media had questioned the validity of the Indian claim when it was first raised in January 2002.

The spokesman also criticised a statement by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee rejecting the demand for self-determination in disputed Kashmir state.

Vajpayee has said parts of Kashmir were occupied by Pakistan and New Delhi would seek vacation of those areas whenever the subject was was discussed.

"We do not want anybody's land but we will not part with even an inch of ours," the Indian PM said. The spokesman said Kashmir was not a dispute over a piece of land.

"It is not a territorial dispute per se. The dispute is about the political future of 13 million people living in Jammu and Kashmir and its resolution in accordance with aspirations," Khan said.