Describing as 'a major development' the US move to declare Dawood Ibrahim a 'global terrorist', Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Friday said India stands vindicated.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has all along denied the gangster's presence in his country. "Now, after the US decision, the facts are before the whole world," Advani said.
Also see: Dawood Ibrahim is a global terrorist: US
"It is a major development from our point of view. The full implications of the development are being examined. I have spoken to the external affairs ministry in this regard," he said.
"We had an idea that the US Treasury [Department] was thinking in this direction and from our side, ever since Musharraf came here, we have been pursuing this issue," the deputy prime minister said.
The Treasury Department declared the Mumbai underworld don, based in Karachi now, as a 'global terrorist' and said he has links with the Al Qaeda and is financing activities of Lashkar-e-Tayiba and other Islamic extremists to destablise the Indian government.
Washington will now request the United Nations to list him as a global terrorist, thereby making it obligatory for all member states, including Pakistan, to take similar action.
A bulletin issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control under the Treasury Department even gave Dawood's Pakistani passport number, G869537.