The Dawood-Miandad Marriage

By Amir Mir in Lahore

The Most Wanted Indian fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, allegedly hiding in Pakistan, has further strengthened his Pakistani connection by getting his eldest daughter Mahrukh Ibrahim engaged to Junaid Miandad, the eldest son of former Pakistani cricket captain Javed Miandad.

The son of the legend and the daughter of the don are expected to tie the knot in Karachi in mid July 2005, to be followed by a reception in the Gulf emirate of Dubai in the last week of July 2005. While Dawood will be attending the Karachi wedding function, he is unlikely to attend the Dubai reception because there is that "small matter" of the US State Department having dubbed him a "specially designated global terrorist" in October 2003 for his alleged links with the al-Qaeda.

While identifying him as a resident of the port city of Karachi, the subsequent red corner alert notice issued by the International Police (Interpol) even gave his telephone and Pakistani passport numbers. Dubai, which used to be a safe haven for the don in the past, can no longer welcome him because the United Arab Emirates and India have signed an extradition treaty with several wanted men already being extradited including Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar's real brother, Iqbal Kaskar. Dawood has not visited Dubai after the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

According to Miandad's family circles, the marriage proposal was first mooted in December 2004 by Dawood's wife, Mehajabeen alias Zubeena Zareen, to the wife of the former ace batsman. The suggestion was welcomed and approved instantly and followed by a low profile engagement ceremony in Karachi, an event that was kept a quiet affair by both the families. The engagement was not made public since Dawood Ibrahim is not meant to be residing on Pakistani soil after being declared a globally designated terrorist. Javed Miandad's family sources even expect the wedding ceremony to be a hush-hush one too, with not many guests being invited. When the engagement news surfaced in January 2005, Miandad had reacted angrily, saying he would make no comments on the matter. At that time he was reported to have said: "I don't understand why people interfere in our personal life. I don't interfere in anybody's life and expect them to respect our privacy also". Miandad maintained at the time he didn't want to discuss suchpersonal matters at all. "Talk to me about cricket affairs, I am willing to talk. But I have always kept my family away from the spotlight and their privacy should be respected", he had stated.

However, when approached for comments six months later on June 20, 2005, Miandad admitted that the marriage was on the cards. "I have already made this thing public and it is no more a secret now. When it happens everyone would know about it. We Muslims believe that marriages are made in Heaven and we don't challenge destiny". To a question, Miandad said: "My wife and Dawood's wife are like sisters and his wife is in fact a relative of my mother". To yet another query about his future daughter-in-law, the cricketer said his family members have chosen a well mannered, educated, religious girl like any other parent would do. But he denied that the wedding ceremony was likely to take place in Dubai secretly in July, saying there were no immediate plans for the wedding. "That is all rubbish, no date has been drawn up as yet and I would now request the press and people to let this matter rest and allow us to live in peace. When it happens it will not be a secret ceremony", he added.

While Junaid Miandad is a student of Business Administration at the Oxford University, London, his future wife, Mahrukh Ibrahim, is reportedly also based in London. The two first met in Karachi, then in Dubai and finally in London, leading to their January 2005 engagement. The two families have been close for well over a decade now, especially after the D-Company boss had invested a huge chunk of his black money in the business and industrial ventures of the filthy rich Sehgals of Karachi, who happen to be the in-laws of Javed Miandad. While the Sehgals strongly refute having been involved in any business deal with Dawood, there are those in the intelligence circles who insist the underworld don had invested his black money in the Sehgal's ventures, primarily to whiten the same. Dawood's underworld connects and business ventures are extensive, and he sublets his name in Pakistan, Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries, to franchises in the fields of drug trafficking and gambling dens.

Ever since Dawood got involved in match-fixing over a decade ago, many of the Pakistani cricket players were on his pay rolls who earned huge sums of money. His interest in cricket apparently remains undiminished and after his glamorous appearances in Sharjah one-dayers when he had top Indian actors and actresses at his beck and call, Dawood now calls the shots in Pakistan. Backed by Dawood, Miandad was able to survive as captain of the Pakistan cricket team for a good period of time despite facing tough opposition from other players and his being named in several match-fixing scams. To recall, the judicial inquiry report into the betting and match-fixing allegations prepared by a committee headed by Justice Qayyum, had established a direct link between Dawood and many of the Pakistani players.

The inquiry report released in June 2001 carried details of a phone conversation between then skipper Wasim Akram and Dawood Ibrahim during the England-Pakistan match in Sharjah in year 2000. Former coach Javed Miandad - who was called to depose before the panel on why he quit the job abruptly before the World Cup after guiding the team to victory in Sharjah - said during Pakistan's second match against England, he got a call from someone (whom he did not want to name), who told him the game was fixed and that Shahid Afridi, Moin Khan, Azhar Mehmood, Salim Malik and Inzamam-ul Haq had taken money to throw the match. Miandad told the inquiry panel that he was so angry he forced Akram to talk to the man immediately. Akram, in his evidence before Qayyum, admitted he did talk to someone called Dawood Ibrahim on the phone and was told the match was fixed. Miandad asked Akram to make the players take an oath on the Koran, but Akram did not do so because it was not available at the ground. Miandad has deposed that he was furious at the team during the break as England, who were struggling at 40 for five wickets and had scored 206. He also said before he realised what was happening, five Pakistan batsmen were out and the team was bowled out for 144 runs in the 35th over.

(Cobrapost News Features)