The grant of visa to David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana is threatening to snowball into a major controversy between the home and external affairs ministries.
The grant of visa to David Coleman Headley and his Pakistan-born Canadian associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana is threatening to snowball into a major controversy between the home and external affairs ministries. The former is of the view that it was kept out of the loop while clearing the visa applications.
A home ministry source said a 2004 circular makes it imperative to consult them before granting visa to people of particular countries or born there. The country-specific notification lists half a dozen nations, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
It is perceived that the Indian counsul general in Chicago used his discretion to issue visas to Headley, Rana and a woman, Samraz Rana Akhtar. The last two are Canadian citizens born in Punjab (Pakistan) and were residing in Chicago. “The counsul general can use his discretion to clear visas. But, why was the 2004 order overlooked in these cases,” a source asked.
Both Rana and Samraz were issued multiple visas, which enabled them to extensively tour India on a reconnaissance mission to fix targets for terrorist acts.
The National Investigating Agency (NIA) and other intelligence wings are trying to figure out the impact of the trio’s visit to Agra, Ahmedabad, Kochi and Delhi. “We are not interested so much in the role they played in executing the 26/11 plot. Our prime interest is to figure out whether they have created a terror network at these places. We are proceeding in that direction to prevent any terrorist act in future,” the source said.
The FBI informed India about Headley and Rana’s terror plans and their possible future targets. It seemed that they were looking for high-profile targets like the Taj Mahal, nuclear establishments, vital institutions such as the NDA and two leading public schools.
‘Rules not violated’
A senior diplomat in Chicago has denied that the Indian consul general in Chicago violated any procedure in issuing a visa to Tahawwur Rana. “The Consulate General of India, Chicago, issued visas to Tahawwur Rana and his wife as per the established procedure for issuance of visas to persons of Pakistani origin. The visas were issued with due scrutiny of the available documents and following exact guidelines and without violating any rules/regulations of the Government of India,” Vishvas Sapkal, the consul in charge of consular services at the Chicago consulate, told IANS.
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