Headley claims he was trained in Lahore
‘Attended over 50 training sessions in a safe house, city streets’.
CHICAGO:
Pakistani-American David Headley, accused of facilitating the Mumbai attacks in 2008, told a federal court in Chicago that he was trained by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in safe houses near the airport and on the streets of Lahore.
In the trial of Chicago businessman and Canadian-Pakistani national, Tahawwur Hussain Rana – accused of providing Headley with a cover and acting as a messenger in the 2008 attacks – Headley disclosed that he had attended over 50 training sessions.
During the cross-examination by Rana’s lawyer Charles Swift over Wednesday and Thursday, Headley was also quizzed about how he knew Major Iqbal was part of the ISI. While Headley said he didn’t know Iqbal’s full name, nor had he visited him, he had seen Iqbal in a military jeep a few times. He added that he had been introduced to Iqbal by a serving army officer, Major Ali, who he met in the military cantonment in Landi Kotal.
Headley also said that he knew where the safe house in Lahore was.
On the subject of an email to LeT’s Sajid Mir, where Headley says he was joking about killing top Shiv Sena leaders, Swift asked, “Does the LeT joke about killing people?” to which Headley answered, “Yes, they kill people and they joke about it as well.”
Swift tried to quiz Headley about the finances of Immigrant Law Centre, and tried to ask Headley how Rana’s debt to Headley could be increasing if the funding for the Mumbai office had been provided in its entirety by Major Iqbal.
Swift asked Headley if he was controlling all the information, and keeping secrets. When Headley replied in the affirmative, Swift remarked: “You did well in the espionage school.” Headley wryly remarked, “Yes.”
Headley, who describes Tahawwur Rana as his “best friend in the whole world”, also told the jury on Thursday about how he had warned Rana not to travel to India in the months leading up to 26/11, even to the extent of sending an interlocutor to Dubai to ensure Rana didn’t return to India after his trip there in the first week of November 2008.
He also described how he had not thought that the attack was imminent even in November 2008. Headley described meeting LeT’s Sajid Mir in Karachi that month, but was still unclear about the date of the attack.
Headley said that the 26/11 operation had been delayed in May because the monsoon season would prevent the boats from landing in Mumbai.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2011.
Pakistani-American David Headley, accused of facilitating the Mumbai attacks in 2008, told a federal court in Chicago that he was trained by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in safe houses near the airport and on the streets of Lahore.
In the trial of Chicago businessman and Canadian-Pakistani national, Tahawwur Hussain Rana – accused of providing Headley with a cover and acting as a messenger in the 2008 attacks – Headley disclosed that he had attended over 50 training sessions.
During the cross-examination by Rana’s lawyer Charles Swift over Wednesday and Thursday, Headley was also quizzed about how he knew Major Iqbal was part of the ISI. While Headley said he didn’t know Iqbal’s full name, nor had he visited him, he had seen Iqbal in a military jeep a few times. He added that he had been introduced to Iqbal by a serving army officer, Major Ali, who he met in the military cantonment in Landi Kotal.
Headley also said that he knew where the safe house in Lahore was.
On the subject of an email to LeT’s Sajid Mir, where Headley says he was joking about killing top Shiv Sena leaders, Swift asked, “Does the LeT joke about killing people?” to which Headley answered, “Yes, they kill people and they joke about it as well.”
Swift tried to quiz Headley about the finances of Immigrant Law Centre, and tried to ask Headley how Rana’s debt to Headley could be increasing if the funding for the Mumbai office had been provided in its entirety by Major Iqbal.
Swift asked Headley if he was controlling all the information, and keeping secrets. When Headley replied in the affirmative, Swift remarked: “You did well in the espionage school.” Headley wryly remarked, “Yes.”
Headley, who describes Tahawwur Rana as his “best friend in the whole world”, also told the jury on Thursday about how he had warned Rana not to travel to India in the months leading up to 26/11, even to the extent of sending an interlocutor to Dubai to ensure Rana didn’t return to India after his trip there in the first week of November 2008.
He also described how he had not thought that the attack was imminent even in November 2008. Headley described meeting LeT’s Sajid Mir in Karachi that month, but was still unclear about the date of the attack.
Headley said that the 26/11 operation had been delayed in May because the monsoon season would prevent the boats from landing in Mumbai.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2011.