Not just non-state actors, PC to give Pak proof

NEW DELHI: Armed with fresh disclosures by American terrorist David Coleman Headley regarding the lead role played by Pakistan’s ISI, along with LeT, in the 26/11 attacks conspiracy, Union home minister P Chidambaram will confront Pakistan with details of the ISI links named by Headley and seek immediate action against them.

Mr Chidambaram, who travels to Islamabad on Friday for the Saarc home ministers conference and a more important on-the-sidelines face-to-face with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik, will also seek the voice samples of 26/11 masterminds, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and Abu-al-Qama who had passed instructions to the LeT attackers during the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Though LeT had owned up to having masterminded the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, Headley recently told the NIA team during his questioning over seven days in Chicago, that ISI was monitoring the conspiracy right from the planning stage to managing the terror aftermath . In fact, sources in the MHA told ET that Headley has given specific leads on the identity of these ISI operatives, besides the extent to which they were involved in conceptualising and masterminding the Mumbai strikes.

“Headley’s interrogation has thrown up fresh inputs on the definitive involvement of Pakistani state actors and not just the LeT... The home minister will raise these inputs, which figure as additional evidence on 26/11 submitted only last week to Pakistan, and ask Islamabad to follow them up,” a senior MHA official told ET.

At least three Pakistani Army officers — Major Samir Ali, Major Iqbal and Major Haroon — have been named by Headley as ones who were liaising between the ISI and LeT to give shape to the 26/11 conspiracy. Sources said Headley has also named the senior ISI operatives he was in touch with and who were “guiding” the LeT.

Mr Chidambaram is expected to tell Mr Malik in no uncertain terms to include these ISI links identified by the Pakistani-origin terrorist in the FIA probe and bring them to justice. The MHA, however, has little hope of a positive response from Pakistan. “Like in the case of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, against whom Islamabad has repeatedly refused to act, Mr Malik may conveniently reject the ISI role detailed by Headley as nothing but “unsubstantiated charges,” the official pointed out. Besides, the ISI — which was linked to Afghan Taliban by a recent LSE report — and LeT are so intertwined that it may not be possible for Pakistanis to disturb the nexus.

Incidentally, even the FBI’s repeated requests for access to the Pakistani Army officers behind 26/11 have not borne fruit. Mr Chidambaram is also going to push for action against LeT founder Hafiz Saeed citing the fresh disclosures made by Headley regarding the JuD’s boss being in the loop through every stage of the 26/11 conspiracy. He is expected to draw Mr Malik’s attention to the lack of any restrictions within Pakistan on Saeed’s movements or public speeches, including on political forums, despite his close association with LeT, a proscribed terror outfit.

With the issue of inaction against 26/11 accused on Pakistani soil high on the agenda, the Indian side will once again insist on voice samples of the 26/11 masterminds who were directing the Mumbai attackers from the LeT control room in Pakistan. The samples will help establish the identity of the masterminds, besides confirming if they are the same persons being tried in Pakistan.

Among the other issues to be raised by Mr Chidambaram are the intact terror infrastructure in PoK as well as the rising infiltration into J&K in 2010. On its part, Pakistan is expected to inquire into the progress of the Samjhauta blasts probe, besides raising the water-sharing issue.

Incidentally, the Indian side is not really expecting too much of an outcome from the Chidambaram-Malik meeting. “The talks are at most exploratory, aiming to only test the waters ahead of the foreign ministers’ engagement scheduled for next month,” said an MHA official.