Illustration of Dawood Ibrahim.
Having lost a crucial lead with the death of Dawood Ibrahim's sister Hasina Parkar yesterday, intelligence agencies may ramp up their surveillance of the Facebook accounts of Dawood's family members.
Intelligence officials said they have been watching the online activities of Dawood's daughter Mahrukh, his son-in-law Junaid Miandad and other family members on Facebook. Mahrukh lives in Lahore with Junaid, whom she married in 2005.
Mahrukh, officials said, is active on Facebook with the nickname Mahrukh J, while Junaid, son of Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad, also posts updates on his profile. "There are also other members of Dawood's family who have Facebook profiles with nicknames. All of them are on our radar," said a Crime Branch officer, on condition of anonymity.
BeneficialIn June 2010, a post by Mahrukh on Facebook had given the Intelligence Bureau clinching evidence of Dawood's presence in Karachi. "Missing mom and dad and Junaid and Reenz and Moeen and Mazia and everyone in Karachi," the post read.
Till 2010, officials said, the entire Dawood family was active on Facebook, exchanging messages and pictures. But, after some profiles were discussed in the media, privacy settings were changed. In less than a week, all the immediate members of the D family had deleted their profiles.
After a gap of almost a year, Junaid was back on Facebook, having deleted some family pictures. Mahrukh and Dawood's only son Moin, had also gone quiet, but the lure of social media forced Mahrukh to make a comeback under the name Mahrukh J.
Taking lessons from the past, however, Mahrukh posted just one photograph of her husband Junaid and their son. The photo received 63 likes and several comments.