Family says it’s a bid to prejudice the Gujarat high court that will hear the case on July 14.
David Headley has given the Narendra Modi government a chance to wriggle out of a tight spot. The mastermind of the 26/11 terror attacks has reportedly told a four-member team of the
National Investigating Agency (NIA), which recently interrogated him in the US, that Mumbra girl Ishrat Jahan, allegedly killed by the Gujarat police in a fake encounter in 2004, had links with Lashkar-e-Taiba. The terrorist outfit had recruited her as a suicide bomber, Headley reportedly told the sleuths.
Gujarat chief minister Modi had been facing a lot of flak for allegedly stage-managing Ishrat’s encounter. Now, Headley’s claim has given the BJP ammunition to corner the UPA government. It wants the government to clarify whether Headley has given such a version to the NIA.
The Union home ministry has been silent on the issue ever since reports about Headley’s claim appeared in a section of the press.
A source in a top intelligence agency said that there could be some truth in Headley’s claim. But he steered clear of controversy when asked whether the issue has been raked up now as the Gujarat high court is scheduled to hear the Ishrat case on July 14.
Ishrat’s family has maintained that she was a student. It has taken legal recourse against the Gujarat police for killing her in an encounter on June 15, 2004, along with Javed Sheikh and two Pakistani nationals — Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar Abdul Ghani.
Ishrat’s mother, Shamima Kausar, has said, “This is an attempt to prejudice the Gujarat high court which is looking into my appeal for a CBI probe of Ishrat’s death.” The family has decided to seek clarification from Union home minister P Chidambaram in regard to Headley’s reported claim.
Immediately after Ishrat was killed in the encounter, the then LeT mouthpiece, Ghazwa Times, had paid tribute to her as an activist. But in 2007, LeT’s new face, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, disowned her and even issued an apology to Ishrat’s family for calling her an LeT cadre.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Headley’s disclosure about Ishrat’s LeT links made it incumbent upon the government to come clean. “Let the government make a disclosure,” he said. “This information has become extremely important in view of the UPA’s flip flop on this issue.”
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