Why Lahore fears NIA, FBI probe over 26/11 terror attacks? 'Tahawwur Rana can spill beans on accused roaming free in Pakistan'
26/11 terror accused Tahawwur Rana, extradited to India on a special Air Force aircraft from the United States, is expected to undergo a trial at the special NIA court in New Delhi as he becomes the first catch of the National Investigation Agency in its larger terror conspiracy case where all other accused are absconding.
The other accused in the NIA case in which Rana will face trial are either in prison, like David Coleman Headley - the Pakistani-American terrorist jailed in the United States, or roaming free and living in safehouses like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba founder Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan; Pakistan 26/11 mastermind Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi; “Project manager” of 26/11 Sajid Mir; 26/11 plotter Abdur Rehman Pasha; Al Qaeda leader Illyas Kashmiri, and Major Iqbal and Major Samir Ali – the two ISI officials who have been named in the charge-sheet filed in court by the NIA.
Other than Headley, all other accused are in Pakistan. Rana’s interrogation becomes crucial as he is the first link for the investigators to unravel the larger terror plot, after more than a decade, especially since he is the one who knew almost all the other accused too. Rana had travelled to Pakistan, the US, and India – meeting other terror accused and stringing together the preparations to target not just vital installations in Mumbai but different parts of the country as well.
Investigators say his role is more significant than even Ajmal Kasab, the foot soldier who was hanged in the 26/11 case for his role as an executioner of the Mumbai attacks. But Kasab was not a planner like Rana and did not have insights into the larger conspiracy and transnational links of the terror conspiracy against the country - with targets spread across Delhi, Pune, Gujarat and Maharashtra among others.
Therefore, Rana’s interrogation can help the NIA piece together not just the 26/11 conspiracy but the other terror plots hatched by the Rana-Headley duo during their multiple visits to India.
The NIA, in its charge-sheet, has said that Headley, in association with the other co-conspirators, planned and made preparations by conducting reconnaissance of important places in the country on behalf of terrorist organisations LeT and HUJI, including 26/11. But before the execution of other future planned terrorist strikes, they planned attacks on various Chabad Houses and the National Defence College in Delhi as well.
It was Zakiur-Rehman Lakhvi who guided and handled Headley for conducting reconnaissance in India, which resulted in the death of 166 persons and injury to 238 persons in the 26/11 attack, says the NIA. But it was Sajid Mir who was coordinating, guiding and directing the other co-conspirators.
On the other hand, Abdur Rehman Hashim alias Pasha along with Headley, Ilyas Kashmiri and Rana were looking at the larger goal of planning future attacks in the country. The finances were coming from ISI officials including Major Iqbal, say sleuths, who also collected the surveillance videos prepared by Headley time to time.
All of this preparation required espionage activities that were being coordinated by Major Sameer Ali, says the charge-sheet.
The fact that the NIA’s findings have been bolstered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s voluminous interrogation details of Rana is only a demonstration of the close counter-terror cooperation between India and the United States. This puts pressure once again on Pakistan, where the role of state and non-state actors becomes key to the entire terror conspiracy probed by the NIA – giving a shot in the arm to the government demanding Pakistan take action against the absconding accused.
India