Headley's statement that the Pakistani spy agency and its operatives like Major Iqbal and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed had helped him in laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks has exposed Islamabad's role in 26/11, government officials said today.
India hopes the testimony of 26/11 accused David Coleman Headley that ISI and its operatives were involved in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks will put pressure on Pakistan on its links with the terrorists.
Headley's statement that the Pakistani spy agency and its operatives like Major Iqbal and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed had helped him in laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks has exposed Islamabad's role in 26/11, government officials said today.
Headley's statement is considered to be the second big embarrassment for Pakistan after Osama bin Laden was found to be living in a Pakistani garrison town.
"Both the incidents reflected Pakistan's official agencies' complicity with terrorists," an official said.
The disclosure of Headley is likely to strengthen the lawsuit, filed in a federal court in New York, by the family of 26/11 victims Rabbi Gavriel Noah Holtzberg and his wife Rivka. In the lawsuit, ISI chief Shuja Pasha and LeT are being sued for the Mumbai attack.
Officials said India hopes to get access to Headley's accomplice Tahawwur Rana and Headley's wife when the trial of Rana is over. The US is also expected to share more information with India about the planning and execution of the Mumbai attack.
"We hope to get more information after the trial of Rana," the official said. The trial of Rana is expected to be over by the end of this month.
The issue is also expected to be discussed during the meeting between home minister P Chidambaram and his American counterpart Janet Napolitano ïn Delhi on Thursday.
However, India is unlikely to place a request for extradition of Rana as he was a "lower level" activist, they said, adding Headley was more involved in the conspiracy.
"But the US is unlikely to extradite Headley as he had entered into a plea bargain with the American government," the official said.
Officials believe that more and more information was coming on the 26/11 case and cited one example that earlier India had the information that one "Major Iqbal" was involved in the conspiracy.
"Now we have come to know that his name is Major Majhar Iqbal," an official said.
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