OPINION | Tahawwur Rana extradition: Modi's major diplomatic victory

The extradition of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind, Pakistan-born Canadian citizen Tahawwur Rana, from the US to India is not an ordinary event. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government had to exert vigorous pressure to get him back on Indian soil. Modi has proved that, given a strong will, anything is possible. India had to fight a legal battle in the US for 15 years. For the last four years, the government had been submitting concrete evidence of Rana's involvement in American courts. On a parallel level, diplomatic efforts were made. Prime Minister Modi spoke to US President Donald Trump about Rana's extradition during his US visit. It was only after Trump and the US Supreme Court agreed that the man responsible for the massacre of 166 persons in Mumbai was finally brought to justice. Rana knows which Pakistani army officers were involved in the plot, how Lashkar-e-Taiba executed the plot, and what was the role of David Coleman Headley. Rana worked as a doctor in the Pakistan army. He went to Canada in 1990 and later shifted to the US, where he met Headley, whose real name is Dawood Gilani, a US citizen of Pakistani origin. Rana set up a visa firm through which he helped LeT to carry out terror attacks. Headley, in the guise of setting up Rana's office in Mumbai, came and recced important landmarks where 26/11 terrorists struck. He sent maps and pics of major landmarks to Pakistani army and LeT handlers. This was the setting for November 26, 2008, when Pakistani terrorists attacked and killed 166 innocent people. Once there was a time in India when terrorists used to carry out serial blasts in crowded markets and trains. The 26/11 attack threw a big challenge to the Indian state. Our officials went to the US several times to seek custody of both Headley and Rana but failed. Narendra Modi changed the narrative. I remember when Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat, I had asked him a question in 'Aap Ki Adalat' about what he would have done if he had been in power in Delhi. Modi replied, "Pakistan must get reply in the language that it understands." After becoming Prime Minister, Modi proved how this was possible. He carried out strikes on terror hideouts inside Pakistan. The entire scene has now changed. Every day we read reports of terrorists being killed in Pakistan. The boot is now on the other foot. Pakistan is now complaining that there is an external hand behind the killings of terrorists on its soil. Since the time Modi took over as Prime Minister, his government has stamped out terrorism and has taught a lesson to terror outfits. There are no more terror attacks in India. One should not have an iota of doubt that Tahawwur Rana will be punished for his sins soon.

India