‘Indians deserved 26/11’, Rana told Headley; wanted ultras feted
Extradited terrorist Tahawwur Rana wanted Pakistan to give its highest honour Nishan-e-Haider, reserved for fallen soldiers, to the nine Lashkar terrorists who were killed during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
In an intercepted conversation with attack mastermind David Coleman Headley, Tahawwur was even heard saying “India deserved it”. “After the attacks, Tahawwur told Headley that the Indians deserved it,” the US Department of Justice revealed through a statement.
Tahawwur (64), a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, was extradited to Delhi from the US on Thursday after a lengthy legal battle. He is currently in the NIA’s custody for 18 days. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, has said he was glad the extradition had happened. He said it was a critical step towards seeking justice for the 166 victims, including six Americans, of the Mumbai terror attack, which shocked the world.?
India’s proceedings against Tahawwur are not the first in which he has been accused of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism. In 2013, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison following his conviction in Illinois for conspiring to provide material support to the LeT and for his role in a foiled Lashkar-sponsored terrorist plot in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The US Department of Justice said Headley made five extended trips to Mumbai—in September 2006, February and September 2007, and April and July 2008—each time making videotapes of potential targets, including those attacked in November 2008.
“Before each trip, Headley took surveillance instructions from Lashkar members. After each trip, he travelled to Pakistan to share videos and details of the targets with Lashkar handlers,” the US Department of Justice shared.
Before the April 2008 surveillance trip, Headley, a US citizen partly of Pakistani descent, and the co-conspirators in Pakistan discussed potential landing sites in Mumbai for Pakistani terrorists to arrive by sea. It was revealed that Headley returned to Mumbai with a global positioning system (GPS) device and took boat trips around the Mumbai harbour and entered various locations into the device.
From November 26 to 28, 2008, 10 terrorists carried out multiple attacks with firearms, grenades and IEDs at different locations in Mumbai, including Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, Leopold Café, Chabad House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, each of which Headley had scouted in advance.
In March 2009, Headley made the sixth trip to India to conduct additional surveillance, including of the National Defence College in New Delhi and of Chabad Houses in different cities.
Headley was sentenced to 35 years in prison in the US for a dozen federal terrorism crimes relating to his role in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and a subsequent proposed attack on a newspaper in Denmark. He had pleaded guilty in March 2010 to all 12 counts that were brought against him following his arrest in October 2009 as he was about to leave the country.
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