With more evidence emerging about Pakistani establishment's close links with terror groups, the country fits into United States standard of 'state sponsors of terrorism' criteria in more than one way than that of the four nations which have been designated under this category so far.
Mumbai attack co-accused David Coleman Headley on Wednesday testified he had conducted a surveillance of the German Bakery in Pune and identified Chabad houses in Delhi, Pushkar and Pune as potential bombing targets.
After two failed attempts to strike Mumbai in September and October 2008, Pakistani handlers of the 26/11 accused David Headley began planning the attack on India's financial capital "more closely than ever" in early November that year.
Some Indians living in Karachi were willing to work with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba to carry out terror attacks in India, David Headley has said, apparently referring to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who is based in the port city of Pakistan.
The Lashkar-e-Tayiba used videos of the 2002 Gujarat riots to motivate David Coleman Headley, a co-accused in the 26/11 attacks, to carry out "jihad" against India, indicating how the incident is being used as a major recruiting tool by the banned Pakistani militant group.
A top United States attorney has vowed to bring to justice the other six Pakistan-based defendants who have been named in the indictment filed by federal prosecutors before a Chicago court in Mumbai case. The six defendants are Al Qaeda leader Illyas Kashmiri, Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Sajid Mir; Major Iqbal, said to be a serving Inter Services Intelligence officer and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha, another LeT leader.
Justifying a controversial deal with Mumbai terror attacks accused David Headley that spared him from the death penalty and extradition to India, a top United States attorney on Friday said that not making the pact would have been a "terrible mistake".
Terrorist David Headley was ready to double cross his comrades-in-arms after his 2009 arrest and had prepared to setup dreaded Al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri to be targeted in a United States drone strike.
David Coleman Headley, co-accused in the Mumbai terror attacks, lied to the law enforcement agencies and implicated Tawahhur Hussain Rana in the plot in a bid to save his life, defence attorneys said on Wednesday.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-origin American citizen charged with criminal conspiracy in the Mumbai terror attacks, could face the 'maximum statutory penalty' of life imprisonment or death if convicted.This was contained in additional charges unsealed at a Chicago court, which is hearing the case against 49-year-old Headley, who was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in October, along with LeT operative Tahawwur Hussain Rana.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had attended the funeral of Mumbai attacks accused David Headley's father in 2010. This was disclosed by 50-year-old Headley at a Chicago court during the trial of co-accused Tahawwur Rana in the 26/11 attacks case.
Tahawwur Rana, the 26/11 co-accused, did not congratulate co-conspirator David Coleman Headley, unlike several others, on the success of the Mumbai terror attacks, attorney of the Pakistani-Canadian said during the trial.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, Mumbai attacks co-accused, had an ambitious plan to enter Bollywood by launching Rahul Bhatt, son of film director Mahesh Bhatt, in a movie that he wanted to make.
The mysterious Major Iqbal, who India suspects is a Pakistani army officer in the Inter-Services Intelligence, has now been identified as Chaudhery Khan by Mumbai terror accused David Headley. Headley also confirmed that Khan was the mastermind of the 26/11 attacks.
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thakckeray was on Tuesday night dismissive of Mumbai terror attack accused David Headley's testimony in a Chicago court that a plot was involving his handlers in Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI and terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba was hatched to kill him.
Citing the need to be better prepared for trial, Pakistani-Canadian terror suspect Tahawwur Rana has asked the US government to provide him "specific" details of the kind of "material support" he provided to terror acts, saying so far the prosecution's allegations in the superseding indictment have been "vague".
The US administration had informed the Indian government before it finalized a deal with David Coleman Headley to change his plea to guilty, sources said.
David Headley, who played a big role in the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks, will plead guilty before a Chicago court in the United States on Thursday.
Tahawwur Rana, cleared by a Chicago court of involvement in the Mumbai attacks, knew about the 26/11 plot as he was part of 'the inner circle' and was tipped off about the 'imminent' strikes by none other than Lashkar-e-Tayiba's Pasha during a meeting in Dubai, according to United States prosecutors.
Oberoi hotel, one of the sites attacked during the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, was not originally on the list of targets for surveillance given to David Headley by his Inter Services Intelligence handler. But the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative made a video of it after filming Chabad House as he had an hour to spare before he could catch a movie.This was revealed by the LeT operative in his testimony before a Chicago court during co-accused Tahawwur Rana's recently-concluded trial.
As the Chicago court prepares its verdict in the case of Pakistani-American terror accused Tawwahur Rana, Indian agencies wait with bated breath for the result.
Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana was involved in the Mumbai attacks and he and his friend David Headley were part of the same team that carried out the terror assault in 2008, a US federal attorney told a Chicago court on Tuesday.
While Pakistani handler Sajid Mir and ISI's Major Iqbal are both in the dock in the Chicago court where Tahawwur Rana is being tried for his role in the 26/11 terror attacks, Mir remains Pakistan's biggest worry. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
A Lahore-based retired Pakistan army major has emerged as a key link between the Mumbai terror attack suspect David Coleman Headley and his Pakistani handlers who guided him in planning and plotting strikes in India.
A Chicago court has given a 60-day deadline to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to complete its investigations and file an indictment into the foiled terror plot in India and Denmark by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist group.
Pakistani-Canadian LeT operative Tahawwur Hussain Rana has appeared in a Chicago court for his arraignment and pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiring to provide material support to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and a terror plot in Denmark.
Pakistani-origin American national David Coleman Headley, charged with criminal conspiracy in the Mumbai terror attacks, had misrepresented facts while applying for an Indian visa, the FBI has charged.
The incident took place in San Mateo on Monday, the police were quoted as saying by the the report.
United States prosecutors have sought 58 days extension from November 19 to file indictment against Tahawwur Rana, accused of being part of a LeT terror plot in India, saying that the Federal Bureau of Investigation needs more time to diligently examine fresh evidence unearthed against him in recent raids.
The hearing of the bail application of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pak-born Canadian citizen arrested on terrorist charges, has been postponed by a week.
David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, arrested last month by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were part of a Lashkar-e-Tayiba plan of a major terror attack on the facilities of a Danish newspaper and the National Defence College in India, federal prosecutors have said.
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, the very-much-alive 77-year-old British writer who received the Nobel Literature Prize in 2001, was "killed off" by the FBI in a footnote. The slip-up was noticed after documents presented to a Chicago court were unsealed on Tuesday wherein the acclaimed writer is referred to as "the late V.S Naipaul, a Nobel prize winning author" in the footnote of sworn testimony by Special Agent Lorenzo Benedict.
India will have "full access" to all the information on terror suspect David Headley, who pleaded guilty before a Chicago court to all 12 terror charges including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, US Assistance Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake said in New Delhi on Friday.
Home Secretary G K Pillai said if Headley gets severe punishment and comes out of the judicial process, it would be easier for India to get access to the Pakistan-born American national in jail. "If he is given a light sentence, it would not only be disappointing but we will be registering a very strong protest with the US," Pillai told NDTV hours ahead of the hearing against Headley in Chicago.
Headley was not a double agent, but a quadruple agent. He initially started working for the DEA around 1998. He started working for the Lashkar-e-Tayiba some time in 2005, and started working for the 313 Brigade of Ilyas Kashmiri towards the end of 2008, says B Raman
After the terror attacks in Mumbai last year, terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana complimented members of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, saying they had done a 'good job', United States prosecutors have alleged. According to a 10-page memo filed by United States prosecutors in a Chicago court on Monday, Rana asked co-conspirator David Coleman Headley to "pass along a message" to LeT Member A, whom Rana had given the name 'Khalid bin Waleed'.
IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that inducing artificial rain can only be attempted when there are clouds or moisture available.
The air quality is expected to improve further due to wind speed favourable for the dispersion of pollutants.
The incident happened when the plane was taxiing at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
The city's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 420 at 8 am on Thursday, compared to 426 at 4 pm on Wednesday. The AQI map prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board showed clusters of red dots (indicating hazardous air quality) spread across the Indo-Gangetic plains.
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