26/11: US says will bring perpetrators to justice, asks Pak to

From Lalit K Jha
Washington, May 12 (PTI) Ahead of the Chicago trial of
Mumbai attack accused, US said it was committed to bring the
perpetrators of the 2008 terror strikes to justice and asked
other countries to do the same--an apparent reference to
Pakistan.
The US assertion that India was also a "victim" of
terrorism came even as influential daily 'The Washington Post'
said the discovery that Osama bin Laden spent years in a
compound surrounded by military facilities in Abbottabad
reinforced the accusations that Pakistan's powerful spy agency
ISI was involved in the 26/11 attack which killed 166 people.
A key US lawmaker Mike Rogers meanwhile said the
Pakistan-based Haqqani network may have had some "logistical
role" behind bombing incidents in India. Rogers is the
Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence,
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, "We are
committed to bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks
to justice. We call on other countries to do the same."
"Our message is that we sympathise with India, which
has also been the victims of terrorism," Toner said at his
daily news conference.
The Post while taking note of the start of one of the
most significant terrorism trials in US on May 16 involving
Pakistan-Canadian Tahawwur Rana, observed that day will mark
"the first public airing of the ISI's alleged involvement in
the Mumbai attacks."
Rana, a co-accused along with Pakistani-American David
Headley in Mumbai attack, is the owner of a Chicago
immigration consulting firm. Rana was arrested in 2009
and charged with providing material support in the attacks in
which four suspects were indicted last week.
While the Obama Administration has publicly refrained
from making any comments on the alleged role of Pakistan's ISI
in the Mumbai attack, its latest indictment filed in the
Chicago court names a suspect "Major Iqbal", whose affiliation
to the spy agency has been detailed in US and Indian case
files.
"The on-going Chicago trial on 26/11 will throw fresh
light on the ISI's role in the Mumbai terrorist attack,"
investigative journalist Sebastian Rotella said in his latest
article in The Washington Post and ProPublica.Com.
Observing that ISI has long been suspected of secretly
aiding terrorist groups while serving as a US ally in the
fight against terror, The Post said the discovery
that bin Laden spent years in a fortress-like compound
surrounded by military facilities in Abbottabad has heightened
those suspicions and reinforced the accusations that ISI was
involved in the 26/11 attack.
"The star witness will be David Coleman Headley, a
Pakistani-American businessman-turned-militant who has pleaded
guilty to scouting targets in India and Denmark. Rana
allegedly helped Headley use his firm as a cover for
reconnaissance," it added.

Headley trained in LeT camps before being recruited in
2006 by an ISI officer, Major Samir Ali, who referred him to
Iqbal in Lahore, according to the report.
Federal prosecutors have said Headley, a
Pakistani-American, was associated with LeT and attended its
training camps in Pakistan which began in or around February
2002, August 2002, April 2003, August 2003 and December 2003.
Headley assisted senior LeT personnel in planning and
preparing for terrorist attacks.
Currently languishing in a Chicago jail, Headley has
bargained with the US authorities that in exchange for his
guilty plea he would not be extradited to India or face death
penalty.
The status hearing of Rana took place in Chicago
yesterday even as his lawyer claimed that Indian government
officials hadn't approached him yet for access.
The status hearing took place with the discussions
about the commencement of trial on May 16. Headley is likely
to testify at the trial. Headley has plead guilty while Rana
has not plead guilty.
Commenting on recent reports that India may gain
access to him like they did to Headley last year, Rana's
attorney Patrick Blegen claimed that the Indian government
officials hadn't approached him yet.
Part of the hearing today was closed. On April 25, in
a second superseding indictment, US prosecutors charged four
additional men, all Pakistani residents, in the 26/11 terror
attacks that left 166 dead including six Americans.
Congressman Mike Rogers said, "We believe that they
may have some logistical role in helping in the bombings in
India". His remark came in response to a question at the
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a Washington-based eminent
think tank.
Rogers, who is being briefed regularly by the American
intelligence agencies including the CIA, however did not
specify any particular terrorist attacks inside India, but
apparently was referring to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
This is possibly for the first time that the name of
the Haqqani network, a terrorist network based in Pakistan,
has figured in any terror related activity in India.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had yesterday
slapped sanctions against Badruddin Haqqani, one of the
outfits top commanders.
Badruddin is the son of HQN founder Jalaluddin Haqqani
and his brothers Nasiruddin Haqqani and Sirajuddin Haqqani,
are all Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
Interestingly, the Haqqani network hasn't yet been
designated as Foreign Terrorist Organisation by the US. Last
month, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, had said that elements in ISI support the network.