Headley could be related to Pak PM
Arrested US-based Lashkar jihadi David Headley alias Daood Gilani may have a brother Danyal working in the Pakistani PMO.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Arrested US-based Lashkar jihadi David Headley alias Daood Gilani may have a brother Danyal working in the Pakistani PMO. When Danyal’s father died, the condolence message issued by Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani mentioned his interests and accomplishments that tallied with the profile of Headley’s father sketched by the FBI for the American paper.
In fact, going by the tradition in the sub-continent where PROs to the PM are political appointees who are handpicked for their family and political ties, some suspect that Danyal and, in turn Headley, could very well be related to Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza himself. Danyal could not be contacted for his version despite repeated attempts on Friday evening.
According to an agency report , Headley hailed from an influential political family from Multan, who were descendants of Syed Musa Pak, a spiritual figure of Qadri Sufism order which traces its origins to Gilan province of Iran.
Gilani’s marriage with Philadelphiabased Serrill broke down when they came to Lahore to settle down. In 1977, Pakistan’s government was overthrown in a military coup and Serrill feared for her children. She withdrew Headley from Hasan Abdal Cadet College and brought him to the US to live with her. Headley and Rana were arrested by the FBI last month from Chicago for allegedly plotting to carry out terror strikes in Denmark and India.
The indications of Headley being related to Danyal and the Pakistan PM come at a time when a question of his being possibly used as a US undercover agent has led to many here digging out more about his background. The suspicion of his being an American undercover agent stemmed from a number of reasons—his history as an undercover agent working for American drug-enforcement agencies and that he could travel between the US and Pakistan without attracting suspicion even when he had a controversial past.
The fact that he was present in India when the FBI issued a very crucial specific warning against the attack that LeT had planned for September last year has strengthened the doubts about Headley being a “double agent’’ . The warning was precise about targets, making a specific mention of Hotel Taj where Headley had stayed and which became the target of the 26/11 attack on Mumbai.
A recent profile in the New York Times said that in 1998, Headley (then known as Daood Gilani) was convicted of conspiring to smuggle heroin into the US from Pakistan. “Court records show that after his arrest, he provided so much information about his own involvement with drug trafficking which stretched back more than a decade and about his Pakistani suppliers that he was sentenced to less than two years in jail and later went to Pakistan to conduct undercover surveillance operations for the DEA,” the report said.
In fact, going by the tradition in the sub-continent where PROs to the PM are political appointees who are handpicked for their family and political ties, some suspect that Danyal and, in turn Headley, could very well be related to Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza himself. Danyal could not be contacted for his version despite repeated attempts on Friday evening.
According to an agency report , Headley hailed from an influential political family from Multan, who were descendants of Syed Musa Pak, a spiritual figure of Qadri Sufism order which traces its origins to Gilan province of Iran.
Gilani’s marriage with Philadelphiabased Serrill broke down when they came to Lahore to settle down. In 1977, Pakistan’s government was overthrown in a military coup and Serrill feared for her children. She withdrew Headley from Hasan Abdal Cadet College and brought him to the US to live with her. Headley and Rana were arrested by the FBI last month from Chicago for allegedly plotting to carry out terror strikes in Denmark and India.
The indications of Headley being related to Danyal and the Pakistan PM come at a time when a question of his being possibly used as a US undercover agent has led to many here digging out more about his background. The suspicion of his being an American undercover agent stemmed from a number of reasons—his history as an undercover agent working for American drug-enforcement agencies and that he could travel between the US and Pakistan without attracting suspicion even when he had a controversial past.
The fact that he was present in India when the FBI issued a very crucial specific warning against the attack that LeT had planned for September last year has strengthened the doubts about Headley being a “double agent’’ . The warning was precise about targets, making a specific mention of Hotel Taj where Headley had stayed and which became the target of the 26/11 attack on Mumbai.
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A recent profile in the New York Times said that in 1998, Headley (then known as Daood Gilani) was convicted of conspiring to smuggle heroin into the US from Pakistan. “Court records show that after his arrest, he provided so much information about his own involvement with drug trafficking which stretched back more than a decade and about his Pakistani suppliers that he was sentenced to less than two years in jail and later went to Pakistan to conduct undercover surveillance operations for the DEA,” the report said.
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