New Delhi, December 13
As compared to paltry budgets of Indian intelligence agencies, Pakistan’s all-powerful Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has billions of dollars at its disposal and a significant contribution — of $ 1 billion — comes from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim every year.

Well — placed sources in the Vajpayee government disclosed to The Tribune here today that Dawood generate this whopping amount through narcotics as he operated and controlled the entire drug mafia on behalf of the ISI.

Dawood’s massive narcotics empire is not confined to Pakistan and Afghanistan and stretches across the Mediterranean, Europe, the Americas and African countries like Yemen and Somalia.

According to classified information, the D Company generates several billion dollars annually from the narcotics trade and in return the ISI allows him to keep a substantial portion of the narco-dollars, besides giving him political patronage.

This year, the ISI’s coffers are going to have a windfall because of a bumper crop of opium in Afghanistan. For those who thought that Pakistan has lost influence in the post-Taliban Afghanistan, here is a correction: the drug and arms mafia continue to have unfettered movement across virtually entire Afghanistan as the writ of President Hamid Karzai and the USA does not run outside Kabul.

Of crucial importance to Pakistan is the eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad which is very close to Pakistan. Important drug smuggling routes go through Jalalabad. That explains Islamabad’s jittery reaction and complaint to Washington about India's increasing influence in Afghanistan and New Delhi’s declared intention of setting up a Consulate in Jalalabad.