New Delhi, April 10 With Tahawwur Rana's extradition, India will have a key link to nail Pakistan's connection to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan has all along been denying its involvement despite a series of dossiers presented by the Government of India. But now, Rana's interrogation and trial will certainly unveil the plot that was backed by Pakistan.
Rana's involvement in the conspiracy behind the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai was established by his childhood friend and another key accused in the terror case, David Coleman Headley, alias Daood Sayed Gilani.
Headley appeared before a special court in Mumbai through video conference from an undisclosed location in the US in 2016, where he revealed his Pakistan links.
Headley said he was in constant touch with Rana and even took his permission to open a business office in Mumbai as a front for his activities.
The National Investigation Agency had in its charge sheet said that Rana provided logistics, financial and other assistance to Headley and others involved in plotting terror attacks in India.
During his deposition through video conference, Headley answered questions from Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on how the 26/11 attacks were planned and executed. His statement made Rana's role very clear, leaving no room for questions.
Rana was convicted in the US for his links to Lashkar-e-Taiba and helping plot an attack against a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. The court, however, cleared him of the charge of plotting the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Rana was acquitted in the Mumbai case, but the trial exposed his links with Headley.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had said in a statement (January 2013) after Rana's conviction in 2009 that he had admitted to the terror activities of Lashkar and the Mumbai attacks.
"In a post-arrest statement in October 2009, Rana admitted knowing that Lashkar was a terrorist organisation and that Headley had attended training camps that Lashkar operated in Pakistan. Headley testified that he attended the training camps on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005. In late 2005, Headley received instructions from members of Lashkar to travel to India to conduct surveillance, which he did five times, leading up to the Mumbai attacks three years later that killed more than 160 people and wounded hundreds more," the FBI statement mentioned.
The statement gives the details of how the plan was executed. "In the early summer of 2006, Headley and two Lashkar members discussed opening an immigration office in Mumbai as a cover for his surveillance activities. Headley testified that he traveled to Chicago and advised Rana, his long-time friend since the time they attended high school together in Pakistan, of his assignment to scout potential targets in India. Headley obtained approval from Rana, who owned First World Immigration Services in Chicago and elsewhere, to open a First World office in Mumbai as cover for his activities. Rana directed an individual associated with First World to prepare documents supporting Headley's cover story and advised Headley how to obtain a visa for travel to India, according to Headley's testimony, as well as e-mails and other documents that corroborated his account."
The statement mentions that in late 2008 and early 2009, he reviewed with Rana how he had performed surveillance of the targets attacked in Mumbai.
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