D-Company merges with LeT

The intelligence agencies on Friday claimed to have gathered credible evidence to suggest that the Pakistan-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s notorious D-Company has become a part of Lashkar-e-Toiba`s terror network.

The reports comes just a day after the National Security Advisor M K Narayana said that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is still supporting terrorist outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba to launch attacks against India.

"We have seen no change in ISI`s attitude to mentor terror groups like Lashkar and Jaish... attacks on India from Pakistan`s soil are likely to continue," said National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, while delivering the 25th Air Chief Marshal P C Lal Memorial Lecture on Wednesday.

If the intelligence agencies are to be believed, Pakistan`s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been pressing Dawood to merge his gang with the terrorists outfit to boost its anti-India campaign.

The Indian intelligence agencies, which have been keeping a track of Pakistan’s ISI, have issued a fresh warning that the merger of the two deadly outfit poses great threat to India.

"The underworld gang and the Lashkar jihadis have been knocked into a single entity and this has serious implications for India`s internal security," a senior intelligence official said on the condition of anonymity.

D-Company supposedly has strong ties with ISI, which dates back to nineties. According to reports, Pakistan`s external intelligence agency employed Dawood’s network and his close associates to execute the March 12 serial bombings in Mumbai.

Further investigations by the Indian authorities into the Mumbai serial blast confirmed the presence of Dawood, Chhota Shakeel and Tiger Memon in Pakistan.

Shortly after the Mumbai serial blasts, Dawood along with his close associates including Chhota Shakeel and Tiger Memon – the main accused – fled to Pakistan.

Since then, Dawood has been operating its vast network under the umbrella protection of Pakistan’s ISI, which has time and again refuted India’s claim about the former’s presence in the neighbouring state.

However, the pressure increased on Islamabad and Dawood was branded as a global terrorist after the 9/11 attack in the US, when the White House began its global war against terrorism.