India moves Interpol for arrest of Pak armymen

India issues arrest warrants for 5 Pakistani citizens, including 2 army officers, for involvement in Mumbai attacks.

Interpol notified its members on Thursday that India has issued arrest warrants for five Pakistani citizens, including two army officers, for alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, an Associated Press report said.

India asked Interpol to issue  “Red Corner Notices” for the five Pakistanis, said RK Gaur, a spokesman for India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, the AP report said.

According to Indian news agency ANI, the warrant was issued on the basis of disclosures made by incarcerated David Headley, who was extensively questioned by NIA officials in June this year. Headley is said to have carried out a reconnaissance mission for identifying targets in Mumbai for the Lashkar to strike. He is currently lodged in a Chicago jail.

The five Pakistanis wanted by India are Maj Sameer Ali, Maj Iqbal, Illyas Kashmiri, Abdur Rehman Hashim and Sajid Majid, Gaur said.

Iqbal was Headley’s handler who arranged funds and training for him, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. It said Ali was also named by Headley.

Arrest warrants for the five were issued by a New Delhi court in July following a request by the National Investigation Agency.

A Red Corner notice has already been issued against Lashkar founder Hafiz Sayeed and his close aide Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2010.