Tahawwur Rana, the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, had aspired to Pakistan’s highest award for gallantry in battle, Nishan-e-Haider, for the nine Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who carried out the carnage in Mumbai in 2008 and were gunned down by Indian security forces.
In a bit of intercepted conversation between Rana and David Headley released in a statement by the US Department of Justice, it was revealed that after the Mumbai attacks, Rana allegedly told Headley that the Indians ‘deserved it.’
“After the attacks were complete, Rana allegedly told Headley that the Indians ‘deserved it.’ In an intercepted conversation with Headley, Rana allegedly commended the nine LeT terrorists who had been killed committing the attacks, saying that ‘[t]hey should be given Nishan-e-Haider’—Pakistan’s ‘highest award for gallantry in battle,’ which is reserved for fallen soldiers,” the statement said, as quoted by IANS.
The statement stated that Rana is to stand trial in India on “10 criminal charges stemming from his alleged role in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.” Rana is described as a convicted terrorist, a Canadian citizen, and a native of Pakistan by the US. On Wednesday, Washington extradited Rana to India, which it said was a critical step toward seeking justice for the six Americans and scores of other victims who were killed in the heinous attacks.
In a detailed statement, the US has said that Rana, 64, is charged in India with numerous offences, including conspiracy, murder, commission of a terrorist act, and forgery, related to his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks committed by LeT, a designated foreign terrorist organisation. Describing the terror attacks, the US statement reads: Between November 26 and 29, 2008, ten LeT terrorists carried out a series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai.
They infiltrated the city by sea and then broke into teams, dispersing to multiple locations. Attackers at a train station fired guns and threw grenades into crowds. Attackers at two restaurants shot indiscriminately at patrons. Attackers at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel gunned people down and detonated explosives. Attackers also shot and killed people at a Jewish community center.
When the terror finally subsided, 166 victims, including six Americans, were dead, along with all but one of the LeT terrorists. Hundreds more were injured, and Mumbai sustained more than $1.5 billion in property damage. The US said the attacks “were among the most horrific and catastrophic in India’s history.” Ahead of the extradition, India had handed over detailed investigation reports, documents, and evidence to prove Rana’s involvement in the 2008 terror attack.
The US statement says that “India alleges that Rana facilitated a fraudulent cover so that his childhood friend David Coleman Headley (Headley), a U.S. citizen born Daood Gilani, could freely travel to Mumbai for the purpose of conducting surveillance of potential attack sites for LeT. As India alleges, Headley had received training from LeT members in Pakistan and was in direct communication with LeT about plans to attack Mumbai.”
Among other things, Rana allegedly agreed to open a Mumbai branch of his immigration business and appoint Headley as the manager of the office, despite Headley’s having no immigration experience. On two separate occasions, Rana allegedly helped Headley prepare and submit visa applications to Indian authorities that contained information Rana knew to be false, the statement mentions.
Rana also allegedly supplied, through his unsuspecting business partner, documentation in support of Headley’s attempt to secure formal approval from Indian authorities to open a branch office of Rana’s business. “Over the course of more than two years, Headley allegedly repeatedly met with Rana in Chicago and described his surveillance activities on behalf of LeT, LeT’s responses to Headley’s activities, and LeT’s potential plans for attacking Mumbai,” the statement further stated.
(With agency Inputs)
