Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 22: One of India's most wanted man, underworld element Dawood Ibrahim is confirmed to be residing in Pakistan, after the country finally admitted that the terror accused lives in Karachi in a building called the ''White House'.

Dawood Ibrahim was named as India's most wanted terrrorist accused in the 1993 blast who also heads a vast and multifaceted illegal business. Even though time and again India provided evidence of Dawood residing in Pakistan, the country denied to have sheltered him until finally admitted it on Saturday, August 22.

Dawood's presence in the country was revealed in the list of designated terrorist residing in its territory Pakistan placed to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laudering and terrorist financing watchdog.

Pakistan claimed to have directed freezing his funds, putting an arms embargo alongside placing travel restrictions on Dawood Ibrahim.

However, Pakistan's motive to have accepted the fact of sheltering Dawood Ibrahim is believed to be a desperate move to remain out of FATF's grey list and not being placed in the 'black list' along with North Korea and Iran. The country further claimed to have imposed tough financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders in a bid to impress FATF and avoid any negative ranking due to its poor inaction towards terrorism in the country.

Hafiz Saeed and Masoor Azhar are among listed along with Dawood Ibrahim.

The FATF, in June 2018, had listed Pakistan in the grey list and was given a deadline by the end of 2019 to implement a plan of action. But due to COVID-19, the deadline was extended.

On August 18, Pakistan issued two notifications on key terror outfits which included Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed of the 26/11 mastermind behind Mumbai attack, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masoor Azhar and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

It is also learnt that the Pakistan government claimed to have sought freezing their bank accounts and ordered seizure of all movable and immovable properties of these outfits and individuals, the Pakistan media reported. The listed terrorists are also barred from any kind of financial transactions from financial institutions, purchasing of arms or traveling abroad.

After tough conditions set by FATF, Pakistan's lower house passed four bills as an effort to move from FATF's grey to white list.

If Pakistan continued to be on the grey list, the country would be finding it extremely difficult to receive any financial aid from the IMF, World Bank, ADB and the European Union. This prompted the country to release the list of the terror outfits and terrorists residing in the country.

With Inputs from Agencies