UK Gives Top Civilian Award To Dawood Aide Who Lives Under Alias

International

oi-Sanjeev Nayak

In a move that could strain its ties with India, the British monarchy has honoured Mumtaz Khan, one of the most trusted associates of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, with its third highest civilian award.

The 47-year-old London-based Mumtaz Ghaffar Khan, who is a Pakistani British national, was honoured with the award-Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)-in June last year for his “community service” which he does through a chain of community kitchens.

Khan is said to visit Karachi at least six times a year and a regular visitor to Dawood’s home there. Hence, King Charles-III bestowing him with a top civilian award despite having such a close association with India’s ‘most wanted’ person would certainly tell upon the relationship between the two countries. Indian government, however, has not commented on the issue so far.

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Announced on 1st January 2022, the award reads, “The Queen has been graciously pleased, to give orders for the following promotions in, and appointments to, the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire M.B.E. To be Ordinary Members of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order to Mumtaz Khan for tackling food poverty in the UK and abroad.”

The same news was prominently covered across the UK wherein Mumtaz Khan was introduced as “Taz Khan”, reports The Sunday Guardian. However, Taz Khan in reality is Mumtaz Khan, who in September 2017 stood as a guarantor for Pakistani businessman Jabir Siddiq, alias ‘Moti’, who is a top lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim and was arrested by the UK police in August 2017.

It is said that the name change was done immediately after Khan appeared as a guarantor for Siddiq. This was probably done to avoid the attention that the development had generated. The national insurance number of Khan, born on 1st December 1974, is JB897184A, which is a unique number and does not change with change of name, the weekly reported quoting sources.

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The said community kitchen chain, registered under the name of “London Community Kitchen CIC”, incorporated in January 2020 with registration number 12391200, has Khan’s mother Rabia Ghaffar as its director. However, Mumtaz had filed an application on 1st October last year to remove himself from the position of “person with significant controls” in the company.