Chicago trial: ‘Major Iqbal’ sought progress report on terror plot

An FBI agent testifies that the ISI was keeping tabs on the Mumbai attacks.

CHICAGO:

The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) kept tabs on the “progress” of the Mumbai terror attack plot with ‘Major Iqbal’ communicating through emails with the co-accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana, an FBI agent testified on Wednesday, reported Indian news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).

In the ongoing trial of Chicago businessman Rana, prosecutors called seven witnesses, including five FBI agents, who verified email and phone communication between Rana, key witness David Coleman Headley and ‘Major Iqbal’.

According to PTI, in a email sent on July 7, 2008, ‘Major Iqbal’ – who Headley says was involved in planning the attack and is connected to the ISI – allegedly, asked Rana if there was any “progress made on the project.”

The email asking for the progress on a project was sent from [e-mail] to [e-mail] (Headley’s email), PTI further reported.

According to the news agency, prosecutors claimed the email was in reference to the planned attacks, but defence attorneys said any discussion Iqbal had with Rana centered on their plans to work as partners in Rana’s immigration business, Chicago Sun Times reported.

Rana, 50, is accused of providing a cover for his good friend Headley, who scouted and surveyed sites for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that claimed lives of 166 people. Rana’s attorneys maintained that Headley tricked Rana into using Rana’s Indian-based immigration office as a front while he schemed with others.

Headley has already pleaded guilty to his roles in the overseas attack and a thwarted plot targeting the Danish newspaper that printed controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Headley testified in front of the prosecution for five days.

Rana, a Pakistani Canadian, on the other hand, said that he was duped by Headley. He was indicted by a federal grand jury, under 12 counts on February 15 last year, for planning out the attacks, providing material support to LeT to carry out the bombings, and guiding Headley in scouting targets in Mumbai in the process.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2011.