"Return of the Memons- A Pyrrhic Victory" continues...

They were taken to a bungalow in the outskirts of the city on the Bangkok-Pattaya Highway. It was explained to them that they had to be moved from Karachi as there was tremendous international pressure on Pakistan government to hand them over to the Government of India. Once the pressure abated, they were taken back to Karachi on April 29 to a new bungalow: D-58, Darakshan Villa, Defence Housing Authority, Karachi.

Their life was becoming increasingly complicated and unacceptable to them. The experience of calling each other by new names, living the life of captives ridden with guilt and insecurity, hiding from the world in an enemy country, had begun to take its toll. Most Memons, including Tiger’s wife Shabana, were inclined to return to India. Yaqub was at the head of this plan and took upon himself to lead the way for the rest. However, in his utter naiveté, he thought that if he succeeded in collecting irrefutable evidence of the involvement of the Pakistan government, Taufiq Jalianwala and Tiger Memon in the serial Bombay blasts, the authorities in India would show leniency and possibly give reprieve to his family members and him, if they did succeed in returning to India with his family members. When Tiger learnt of his grand plan, he mocked Yaqub, ‘You will go back to India as a Gandhian but will be hanged as a terrorist.’ However, Yaqub and most members of the family were determined to return to India, disregarding Tiger’s alarmist albeit prophetic words of caution. They were ready to face all consequences on their return to India and their beloved city Bombay.

Yaqub contacted his trusted Bombay-based cousin Suresh (name changed), who was initially sceptical of the plan but reluctantly agreed to meet him, first in Dubai in June, 1994 and later in Kathmandu in July. Yaqub venerated his cousin and needed his moral support. Also, he was using Suresh as a sounding board and a conduit for getting legal opinion of lawyers based in his home country.

To be continued...