A DAY after his extradition to India, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) Friday said that following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Tahawwur Rana told his co-conspirator David Coleman Headley that the nine Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists killed during the assault “should be given the Nishan-e-Haider” — Pakistan’s highest award for gallantry in battle reserved for fallen soldiers.
More than 16 years after the Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed, Rana was extradited to India and formally arrested by the NIA Thursday.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X: “We extradited Rana to India to face charges for his role in planning the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Together, with India, we’ve long sought justice for the 166 people, including six Americans, who lost their lives in these attacks. I’m glad that day has come.”
A Pakistani-Canadian businessman who once served in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps, Rana is accused of providing crucial logistical support to the terrorists. He was arrested in Chicago in October 2009, 11 months after the Mumbai attacks. In India, the 64-year-old faces charges of conspiracy, murder, commission of a terrorist act, and forgery.
Elaborating on Rana’s role in the 26/11 terror attacks, the US DoJ said in its statement Friday that India has alleged that Rana facilitated a fraudulent cover to enable his childhood friend Headley — a US citizen born as Daood Gilani — to travel freely to Mumbai to conduct surveillance of potential targets for the LeT.
“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. 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,” the DoJ statement said.
“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,” it said.
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“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 they should be given Nishan-e-Haider, which is reserved for fallen soldiers,” the DoJ said.
It described Rana’s extradition as a “critical step toward seeking justice for the six Americans and scores of other victims who were killed in the heinous attacks”, carried out by 10 LeT terrorists in Mumbai between November 26 and 29, 2008.
“India’s pending proceedings against Rana are not the first proceedings in which Rana has been accused of conspiring to commit violent acts of terrorism. In 2013, Rana was sentenced to 14 years in prison following his trial conviction in the Northern District of Illinois for conspiring to provide material support to LeT and to a foiled LeT-sponsored terrorist plot in Copenhagen, Denmark,” the DoJ said.