New Delhi: Defence expert Nitin Gokhle on Thursday said David Coleman Headley’s revelations in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case have put Islamabad in dock as the world will now be more convinced that Pakistan is not just a terrorist sponsor but also a terrorist state.
Gokhle told ANI that Pakistan will continue to be in denial post Headley’s deposition in the case.
“This is nothing new. India should have expected it, India knew that Pakistan would always say this is nothing but a kind of drama that Headley is playing out. But what has happened because of Headley’s testimony in the court via video-conferencing is that at least the world will now realize that what India has been saying for so many years, for decades is coming true,” Gokhle said.
“And he has given so many details – how much money was paid to him by the ISI; where did he get trained; what was the plan; there were two failed attacks in Mumbai. So, I think India should take satisfaction from the fact that Pakistan may be in denial but the world will more and more be convinced because of this testimony that Pakistan is a terrorist state, not just a terrorist sponsor but a terrorist state,” he added.
Headley’s deposition continued today at a Special Mumbai court after a day’s break yesterday. The Pakistani-American terrorist revealed that before his visit to India, he received 25,000 US dollars from Major Iqbal and 40,000 Pak rupees from his handler Sajid Mir. Both belong to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. Besides this, Major Iqbal also gave him counterfeit Indian currency two to three times.
Headley said that he signed an agreement in November 2006 for his office in Tardeo’s AC market area of Mumbai. After the 26/11 attacks, he wanted to close the office but Tahawur Rana wanted to continue working from Mumbai. That is when Headley insisted on Rana returning to the US to avoid getting into trouble.
He further said that after opening the office about which Major Iqbal knew, he went to Chicago and then met Tahawur Rana for the first time. Rana then facilitated Headley’s visa formalities. Rana was aware that Headley was working for the LeT and that LeT was a terror outfit. He further informed that all his funding were received through Nariman Point branch of IndusInd Bank and Rana had already warned him that RBI would not grant him permission to start business account.
Headley has also said that Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old student killed in an encounter in Gujarat on 2004, was a member of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba’s women wing.
Ishrat was shot along with three men on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in 2004, by the Crime Branch of the Gujarat Police, which claimed that all four were terrorists involved in a plot to kill the then chief minister Narendra Modi. (ANI)