Headley planned to infiltrate, attack Shiv Sena

TNN

Chicago, 25 May 2011: They showed him a styrofoam mock-up of the Taj Mahal Hotel at the Lashkar-e-Taiba headquarters. He wowed them with video footage from inside the Shiv Sena headquarters. They gave him a GPS device to capture coordinates of targets. He warned them against landing the terrorists at the Gateway of India pier. 

 

In a story that reads like a thriller, a trial in Chicago relating to 26/11 is revealing more details about the prosecution’s chief witness David Headley and his role in the Mumbai terror attack. 

 

David Headley

Pakistan’s spy agency ISI is being implicated in Headley’s testimony at every level, whether at the inception, planning, or execution stages of the Mumbai attacks. In a calm, even, voice, Headley, dressed in a dull gray jacket and T-shirt, testified in a chronological manner, about each one of his 5 visits to Mumbai. 

 

He said detailed surveillance videos taken during these visits were presented by him to his handler Sajid and to Major Iqbal of the ISI. 

 

During the testimony, he described his surveillance of the Shiv Sena headquarters in Mumbai, and his friendship with Rajaram Rege, said to be a public relations official with the outfit. ISI’s Major Iqbal and Sajid reviewed his contacts, and expressed their amazement at his entry into the Shiv Sena complex, while venting their mutual hatred for the Sena, "a right wing extremist organization with terrorist links," as he put it. 

 

Shiv Sena Headquarters

Bala Saheb Thackrey

Uddhav Thackrey

 

Headley added that he shared his communication with Rege, described as the PRO of Uddhav Thackeray, with Rana, Major Iqbal, Sajid and Pasha. An email sent to Sajid indicated that Bala (Bal Thackeray) would be travelling with Rege’s boss (Uddhav) to the US and that he could be assassinated "over here" (in US). 

 

He identified the Taj Mahal Hotel as the object of his surveillance and planning. 

 

He talked about requesting his friend Tahawwur Rana in Chicago, whose immigration offices he was allegedly manning in Mumbai as a front for his activities, for business cards. On being asked why he needed business cards, he answered, "to authenticate my cover." 

 

Headley also testified in court that he was shown videos of the Gujarat massacres and the demolition of Babri Masjid. He was also shown a hidden camera video of Babu Bajrangi, and what he had claimed to have done during the Gujarat massacres. Headley said with this information, between 2002 and 2007, Lashkar offices in Pakistan received hundreds of letters asking for help from victims of the Gujarat riots. He also suggested that events in Gujarat and Kashmir were cause for Jihadist retaliation by Lashkar, backed by ISI. 

 

In 2008 on his return to Pakistan, Headley had talked to Sajid about a new list of targets for Mumbai like the Maharashta state police headquarters and the Siddhivinayak temple. Major Iqbal wanted him to add Mumbai airport and Chabad House (Nariman House) on the list. He also surveyed Mumbai Central station, CST, the Oberoi hotel and Leopold Cafe. At Siddhivinayak, he brought holy threads "worn by practising Hindus" so that the attackers could leave undetected. 

 

On his return to Pakistan, he was asked to join the attackers. Major Iqbal told him he did not like the ’egress’ option, where the attackers would leave once the mission was accomplished, but preferred the ’stronghold’ option, where the attackers would fight till the end. The idea of giving phones to each one of the attackers was also discussed. 

 

In October 2008, both Sajid and Major Iqbal discussed the September attempt to attack Mumbai, which had failed. The plan to hijack an Indian fishing boat to land on Indian shores was discussed, but the boat hit the rocks. A subsequent attempt also failed, he told the court. 

 

"I was pleased" Headley said in court when he first heard that the Mumbai attacks had begun. 

 

Again and again, like Banquo’s ghost, the name of Major Iqbal, who is believed to be serving in the ISI, came up during Headley’s testimony. But the prosecution did not seem particularly keen on getting more details on him. 

 

In several email exhibits presented by the prosecution as evidence, Rana was shown as being updated or apprised about Headley’s activities. How much or how little Rana really knew about this trail of terror is the real subject of this trial, but Headley’s confirmation of Pakistan overtly abetting terrorist organizations through its spry agency ISI, that story has been relegated to a side show.