Rana’s extradition

Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s imminent extradition from the US is a defining moment in India’s war against cross-border terrorism. It comes nearly two months after US President Donald Trump, during a joint press conference with PM Narendra Modi at the White House, announced his administration’s nod to sending the “very evil” Rana “to face justice in India”. The onus will now be on India’s probe agencies to make him specify the role of Pakistani state actors in the attacks that claimed 166 lives in November 2008 — arguably the most audacious act of terrorism on Indian soil.

Rana’s interrogation is of vital importance as he had links not only with the internationally banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) but also with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI. The chargesheet against Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving 26/11 terrorist (he was executed in 2012), clearly mentioned that the Mumbai strikes were plotted in Pakistan by the LeT. Kasab and his partners remained in contact with their handlers and co-conspirators through satellite phones while they went on the rampage in India’s financial capital. Former Pakistani Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani had left no room for doubt about the deep state’s role when he claimed in his 2016 book that shortly after the carnage, then ISI chief Gen Shuja Pasha admitted that the planners of the 26/11 attacks were “our people” but it wasn’t “our operation”. It is apparent that the plotters had the backing and blessing of the Pakistan Army, but will Rana say it in so many words and also name the big fish?

The chickens have come home to roost in Pakistan, which is itself being scorched by terrorism. However, despite repeated warnings by New Delhi and Washington about not letting its territory be used to plot cross-border terror attacks, Pakistan is persisting with its misadventures — in line with its policy to bleed India with a “thousand cuts”. India’s efforts to shame Pakistan globally over state-sponsored terrorism will get a huge fillip if the investigators can build an airtight case against Rana and make him come up with startling revelations.

Editorials