Nabbing Dawood Ibrahim just a matter of time: Rajnath Singh

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said India cannot rule out more surgical strikes in Pakistan-controlled territory, delivering an uncharacteristically strong warning to Islamabad four months after Indian commandos carried out widespread and deep cross-border raids in response to a terrorist attack on a military base in Kashmir last September.“Pakistan is our neighbour. If it changes for good, we may not need such a step again. But if terror organisations or others target India, we can’t guarantee that surgical strike will not be repeated,” Singh told Network18 Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi in a rare exclusive interview, his first to any media outlet since the surgical strikes.Singh, effectively the Number 2 in the government, also said the recent “house arrest” of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed was an eyewash, and that if Islamabad is really serious about tackling terror, it should pursue legal options, charge him and put him behind bars.“I am confident that we will succeed in getting him back. It is just a matter of time,” the home minister said,He also said nabbing fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who is said to be hiding in Pakistan, was just a matter of timeWhile Singh took a hardline towards Pakistan, he was more measured when it came to China. He refused to criticize it for repeatedly blocking the designation of another of India’s most wanted – Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar – as a terrorist at the United Nations.“Maybe China did not support us because of their own internal deliberations. But am hopeful they will support us in future,” he said. Read more.