After Italian marines, can we now bring back Dawood?

What happens to our 'diplomatic skills' when it comes to bringing back Dawood Ibrahim?

The Italian marines are back now and the latest is that the chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) of Patiala House Court in Delhi will hear their case. The national and international media have called their return a diplomatic success. According to the Time magazine, India has won 'diplomatic coup'.

Everyone in the government seems to be happy. The timely change of mind by the Italian government spared the UPA government in general and Salman Khurshid in particular some embarrassing moments.

But as I see the government preening itself for having achieved what it wanted, I can't help but ask one thing: if India could force Italy, an important nation of the European Union, into turning in the marines who killed two fishermen off the coast in Kerala, why has it not been able to arm-twist its neighbour, Pakistan, into giving us Dawood Ibrahim who killed several people in Mumbai?

Well, the answer to the question probably lies in the question itself. The key word is 'neighbour'. Yes, more often than not you cannot have your way with your neighbour, especially when the one you are dealing with is as rogue as Pakistan.

But still, could getting Dawood be so difficult? Or is it true what you hear people in power say off the record: that many politicians and policemen do not want Dawood to return to India and tell "the truth" to the entire world. Here is a proof: In November 2005, former Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Pawar had confirmed that after the 1993 serial blasts, Dawood had made an offer to surrender with certain conditions. But Pawar did not agree to his conditions and declined. Similarly, LK Advani had also confirmed that the fugitive had again offered to surrender in 1999 with certain riders. The NDA government had turned down the proposal.

Anyway, these revelations came way back in 2005. There is no point in revisiting them eight years later. But what we can most definitely ask is: does the marines' return reflect on our effective diplomacy or things just worked out the way India  wanted because we were dealing with a civilised nation?

Many will like to believe that it is the latter. Here is why: we tightened the noose around the Italian ambassador and almost put him in jail for reneging on his promise. The pressure yielded results, and the outcome is fruitful. But when it comes to Pakistan, we do not employ any such coercive methods. What happens to our diplomacy while dealing with this neighbour? If our diplomacy and our diplomatic skills are so exceptional as the government would like us to believe after the recent success in the marines case, why has it never worked in Dawood's case?

Perhaps the truth is that if India really wants, it can get Dawood. But what it lack is the will to get him back, and put Pakistan on the mat. Till the politics over this international criminal is decimated and the government puts some real pressure on Pakistan, it it unlikely that Dawood will be anywhere near Indian courts.