VIEW: Headley, the US, Mumbai and LeT — II —Naeem Tahir - Saturday, November 20, 2010

Source : http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\11\20\story_20-11-2010_pg3_3

Headley claims to have been in touch with two persons: ex-Major Iqbal and ex-Major Sameer Ali, who supposedly helped him in his planning work. These two men had retired earlier from the payroll of the Pakistani ISI. This slander on ISI serves as the core reason behind the Indian propaganda machine that portrays Pakistanis as perpetrators of terror with ‘official’ backing

David Headley was fluent in English and Urdu because of his background. He had charms and knew how to get along. He had the support of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), CIA and a business cover-up from Tahawar Rana. With the help of a US passport, travelling was easy. One would not be surprised if he obtained a Pakistani passport also to freely move around in the tribal areas or even in Afghanistan.

According to one of his wives, he had a deep hatred for Indians. It is hard to find the reason for this and one can only guess that possibly he met with fanatics from the right wing during his stint as a student with Tahawar Rana. The extreme right fanatics in Pakistan and in India are no different from each other as far as nursing ‘hate’ is concerned. With this mindset, it seems very probable that during his stay as an agent of DEA he also came into contact with Pakistan’s banned organisations. Of these Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) is the one where he found support for his plan.

Who were the planners or supporters of the Mumbai carnage? According to the report by the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA), who interrogated Headley for 34 hours, “Osama himself named the fidayeen team chosen for the terror strikes on Mumbai.” Headley is also reported to have said: “Lashkar commander Abdur Rehman alias Pasha is directly in touch with the top brass of al Qaeda, including Ilyas Kashmiri who is now number three in the al Qaeda hierarchy in Pakistan. Abdur Rehman has met Osama a number of times.” Rehman once told Headley that his setup had been given the name Jund-ul-fida (Army of fidayeen) by Osama bin Laden himself. How Headley walked into the LeT is unclear. It is very probable that the contact was made through drug dealers who provide financial support to terror operations in return for protection. It is important to note here that Jund-ul-fida is a group within the orbit of LeT and operates with a large degree of independence, and that it is in contact with the al Qaeda hierarchy. It is this group that is said to be involved in the Mumbai carnage.

On the basis of the dossier first submitted by the Indian authorities, some of the facts related were the following:

The attackers were Bada Abdul Rehman, Abass Ali, Abu Saleh, Abdul Rehman Chota, Farhatullah, Ismail Khan, Nasir Abu Umar and Babar Imran. These eight persons left the coast of Karachi on a small boat on November 22, 2008 at 8:00 am. When at sea, they changed over to a bigger boat said to be provided by LeT planners. This boat was ‘met’ by the Indian trawler ‘Khuber’. The group of eight attackers boarded Khuber, killed the crew except the captain, who was asked to take them to Mumbai. Navigation instruments were available to them. The log belonging to Khuber describes the duties assigned to each of the eight persons to carry out their routines on the trawler. Each person had specific duties. Ajmal Kasab’s name is not there! Four days later, on November 26, they arrived at the Mumbai coast at 4:00 pm and the main Mumbai area by 8:00 pm. The terrorists from Khuber split into two groups; six arrived at one point and two at another. Ajmal Kasab was in neither. Still, it is Ajmal Kasab on whose evidence the whole Indian investigation rests! The Indian investigation claims 10 terrorists. The photographs of the eight killed were published. How did the additional two get included? One of these ‘two’, Hemant Karkare, was killed on Rang Bhavan lane. Kasab survived. So, only Kasab was left to provide all the ‘evidence’. He was caught ‘injured’ from the same lane. But how did Kasab arrive on Rang Bhavan lane? Was he not fully covered by photographs implicating him at Taj Mahal Hotel? Who was controlling Kasab’s movements?

Headley is reported to have provided all the information about Mumbai, including maps of the streets. Headley travelled between Pakistan, Mumbai and the US several times for the preparations. He was finalising details of the travel, strategy and locations to hit. Was he doing this on his own? He was carrying out his official assignments from DEA. Was the Mumbai project also a secret assignment?

During the preparation time, Headley claims to have been in touch with two persons: ex-Major Iqbal and ex-Major Sameer Ali, who supposedly helped him in his planning work. These two men had retired earlier from the payroll of the Pakistani ISI. It is very likely that these persons either had extreme right wing beliefs, or were offered lucrative remuneration after retirement by Headley from his resources. The earlier ISI connection of these two persons has been widely publicised. This slander on ISI serves as the core reason behind the Indian propaganda machine that portrays Pakistanis as perpetrators of terror with ‘official’ backing. It also shifts the focus from the doings of Indian agencies.

In Mumbai, David Coleman Headley frequented upmarket Mumbai bars like Topaz on Grant Road and Mansi in Andheri. Sources say that he was sometimes accompanied by foreigners. Who were these foreigners? Could they have been from the CIA or Mossad? Also, the Indian officials investigating the Mumbai attacks claim to have traced David Headley’s Goa connection. The officials claim that Headley was in constant touch with an American who had been living in Goa for the past nine years. This connection could have provided a suitable meeting place for the co-planners.

On the other hand, the eight attackers arrived on the Mumbai coast on 26/11, passing through a large Navy in exercise at that time in the seas around Mumbai, without being challenged or stopped! Does this not sound a bit strange?

Six of the attackers met a woman, Anita Uddaiya, on the coast before going to Mumbai for the attack. This woman was mysteriously whisked away. David Headley also disappeared.

(To be continued)

The writer is a culture and media management specialist, a researcher, author, director and actor