Foreign secretary says India getting help from US on Headley, Rana.
With the UPA government being criticised in parliament for not being allowed access to Mumbai terror suspect David Coleman Headley despite the growing warmth in Indo-US ties, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao tried to deflect criticism.
“India is getting very good cooperation from the United States government [in the investigation],” the foreign secretary said. “We have been told that they will cooperate with us at all levels.”
But intelligence agencies say otherwise. Analysts are wondering why US did not share information about a man who was under the FBI’s watch and who entered India before and after the Mumbai strikes.
Against this background, US ambassador Timothy Roemer’s assertion after Manmohan Singh’s US visit, that: “Our new Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative will strengthen collaboration on counter-terrorism, information sharing, and capacity building — already at unprecedented levels — and make our citizens and cities safer,’’ now sounds hollow.
Asked whether Headley was a double agent, who had turned rogue after being hired by the US Drug Enforcement Agency, Rao gave a terse “no comment”.
However, the foreign secretary said it was important to get full access to all information on the US investigations and ultimately Indian agencies would want to interrogate Headley and Tahawwur Rana. Rao said the government has asked for a report from its Chicago consulate on the alleged disappearance of papers related to the visas issued to Headley.
“I have sought a factual report from our consul-general,” Rao said.
The Indian consulate in Chicago issued visas to Rana and Headley to travel to India. Both made several trips to the country between 2006 and 2008.
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