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.
The NIA, which has been on the trail of American terror operative David Coleman Headley, had been hoping to piece together the terror jig-saw by gaining independent access to Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed, who are alleged to have masterminded the Mumbai carnage.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday pressed US President Barack Obama to convince Pakistan to take strong action against terrorists involved in anti-India activities in that country following disclosures made by LeT operative David Headley.
The worst-ever attack on a police force by Maoists, the blast in Pune at the beginning and the Varanasi explosion at the end of the year blotted the copybook of the security forces, which otherwise kept 2010 free from terror.
The United States administration's approach to India -- including its 'slow' response to the request for questioning terror suspect David Headley and its proximity to Pakistan in the war on terror -- are steadily driving a wedge in the strong relations cultivated during the regime of former President George W Bush, noted historian Arthur Herman has observed.
The Central Intelligence Agency feels that nations across the globe would start co-operating with it less in the wake of the David Headley case and growing instances of home-grown terrorists, and start believing that the United States is an exporter of terrorism, according to a secret document posted by WikiLeaks
Tracking the ideological journey of Times Square bomb plot accused Faisal Shahzad has led the investigators to an interesting concept known as 'jihad tourism', which has made Pakistan, the most preferred destination for people wanting to embrace jihad.
Federal prosecutors have objected to terror suspect Tahawwur Rana's demand for specific details about his involvement in Indian and Danish terror plots, saying the government has already provided "more than sufficient" information to prepare his defence for trial.
India [ Images ] secured an assurance from Pakistan on Thursday that it would act on the leads given by Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley to unravel the conspiracy behind the Mumbai terror attacks even as the two countries agreed to continue their dialogue.
The major thrust of the meeting is on anti-India terrorism that continues to emanate from Pakistan.
The United States has admitted that two of the three wives of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley had multiple conversations with its officials in 2007 and 2008 about his radical connection, but they could not provide any specific information about the time and place of the terror attacks.
The NIA says it will need go back to when Sajid Mir had come down as a cricket fan to find out more about his Indian sojourn. This part of the probe will be very crucial since it will help establish the Mir angle behind 26/11 with more certainty
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja allowed an application by the NIA seeking permission to examine Mohammed Aslam who was arrested by the Delhi Police's Special Cell from the national capital in August 2009.
India has provided Pakistan further details about involvement of Jamaat-ud-Dawaa chief Hafiz Saeed in Mumbai terror attacks on the basis of disclosures made by Pakistani-American Lashker operative David Headley and made it clear that action against him and other handlers would be a major confidence building measure.
The trial of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, co-accused along with Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley in 2008 Mumbai attacks, has been postponed from February 14 to May 16 at the request of defence.
A new report by the Bipartisan Policy Centre's National Security Preparedness Group says the US does not have a real strategy to counter the homegrown threat.
The interesting link that has emerged is that of the retired Pakistan Major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed also known as Pasha. The Pasha link to the case vindicates India's stand that several persons from within the Pakistan establishment were involved in the horrific Mumbai attack. Apart from helping David Headley with his mission, Pasha is the man responsible for bridging the Inter-Services-Intelligence Ilyas Kashmiri gap in a bid to launch a global jihad.
Pakistani terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri belonging to the radical Harakat-ul Jihad Islami group has been indicted in a United States court for the first time in connection with a plot to target a Danish newspaper which had published offensive cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. Kashmiri was charged along with former Pakistani army major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, who had conspired with David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussein Rana and planned to target Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Observing that Al Qaeda and its affiliates are still committed to striking the United States, a top American intelligence official has told US lawmakers that lone-wolf and homegrown extremist now poses an equally serious threat to the country.
US prosecutors have filed a memorandum, opposing the bail petition of terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana, charged with plotting terror attacks in India and Denmark.
Despite fervent efforts to depict Tahawwur Hussain Rana as a man of peace and a reader of Muhammad Iqbal's poetry, a Chicago judge refused to grant 48-year-old Rana bail, on Wednesday, and slated December 16 for a response from the government.
Terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana, under investigation for possible links to 26/11, has categorically denied any involvement in the Mumbai attacks, his lawyer said on Monday and asserted that the Pakistani-Canadian "harbours no ill-will" against Indians.
US National Security Advisor James L Jones sent a tough message to Pakistan saying double standards on terrorism were not acceptable.
As Pakistan took exception to Home Secretary G K Pillai's recent remarks on Inter Services Intelligence's role in Mumbai attacks, India on Friday said that there is no acrimony between the two sides on the issue.
Arrested terrorist Tahawwur Hussain Rana may have been the one who had arranged for the fake student identification cards carried by Ajmal Kasab and nine other terrorists, who were involved in the Mumbai attacks in 2008, said intelligence sources.
The arrest of Colleen R Larose alias Jihad Jane, the American woman accused of providing material support to terrorists and recruiting men and women on the Internet to wage 'violent Jihad' in south Asia and Europe, was a rude wake up call for the United States administration.The involvement of Jihad Jane and Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley in fomenting terror has rudely reminded US intelligence agencies that the Al Qaeda had succeeded in inducting American nationals.
Security expert B Raman deciphers the FBI affidavit against Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the Pakistan-origin Canadian arrested with David Headley for alleged Lashkar connections, and speculates who could be their handlers in Pakistan.
India and Pakistan are talking once again today at the official level. The preparation on the Indian side leaves no doubt that the focus will be on terrorism. The foreign ministry is consulting with the home ministry, defence ministry and security agencies. Pakistan will be placed in the dock. We can reasonably expect Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao to press for the complete unravelling of the 26/11 conspiracy.
'If India had used its diplomatic leverage after 26/11, we had lots in our favour but we abandoned it. The world thinks we are not serious about handling terror,' says security analyst Maroof Raza.
Souces point out that Abdul Al-Hooti could have done more than just providing SIM cards which were used during the Mumbai attack. With evidence against Al-Hooti in the Mumbai attack increasing, the Indian agencies say that apart from interrogating Headley on these lines, they would also be building a case to seek Al-Hooti's extradition from Oman.
Two men entered the area around Bhaba Atomic Research Centre and fed inputs on road topography into their wireless communication service GPRS arousing suspicions of people against the backdrop of US terror suspect David Headley having reportedly conducted a recce there.
US Ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, was in Mumbai this week to pay tribute to 26/11 victims and to lay out a path for future US-India relations.
"How can you rejoice when 166 people have died, when there were dozens of conspirators and you are punishing just one man? Asked Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Bharatiya Janata Party senior leader.
The US on Thursday maintained its pressure on Pakistan to "do more" to deal with terrorism, but said the focus should not only be on that country as there were other groups, including Indian Mujahideen.
Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, expressing his displeasure over the manner in which things were handled after his son shared information about terror suspect David Headley.
Many multiplexes and theatres in Gujarat refrained from screening Mahesh Bhatt's Tum Mile following a demand by the Mahagujarat Janta Party (MJP) for state-wide ban on it, while at other places party workers forced closure of the film shows.
A officer of Deputy Superintendent of Police rank of the National investigation Agency has reached Kochi to investigate the activities conducted by David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana after intelligence confirmed the name of a local contact for Rana, Shameer.
The US said that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which so far had focused primarily on India, is having global aspirations and has spread its tentacles beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan, as manifested by the David Headley case. "Generally, LeT was east focused on India. They're now in the west. Actually, they're not just in the west, focused on Pakistan. There are LeT elements focused on Afghanistan," Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said.
Two leading boarding schools located in prominent hill stations in a north Indian state and a few five star hotels in popular tourist spots are targets of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba, a senior Home Ministry official said on Wednesday.
Addressing media persons after visiting the blast site and the Sassoon Hospital, where the injured have been admitted, Chidambaram said: "Many soft targets need to be monitored. The best police officers have been put on the job and the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad have taken over case."
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