Close on the heels of US authorities charging Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley for facilitating the Mumbai attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will follow up leads related to his activities and connections in Pakistan.
A joint team of the FBI and US Department of Justice will "follow up leads in the case", including Headley's activities and connections in Pakistan, US embassy spokesman Rick Snelsire said.
He did not give further details.
"We have been having close consultations with Pakistani authorities in this investigation and the joint FBI-Department of Justice team will meet officials of various government agencies," Snelsire told PTI today.
Authorities were unwilling to divulge details about the US team's visit to Pakistan for security reasons.
Pakistan has witnessed a wave of terrorist attacks in the past few weeks and visits by all US officials are usually cloaked in secrecy.
Headley, who was earlier accused by US authorities of planning an attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of prophet Mohammed, was charged on Monday with conducting surveillance on targets in Mumbai before the terrorist attacks in November 2008 that killed 166 people.
Born as Daood Gilani, Headley changed his name so that he could travel to India without arousing the suspicion of authorities. Headley, 49, is the son of a prominent Pakistani broadcaster and an American woman, and his half-brother Danyal Gilani is a public relations officer in the Pakistani premier's office.
The Pakistan Army has arrested a retired major for his alleged links with Headley and his accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian national.
The major, who was not named by the army, retired two years ago. He was arrested in the garrison city of Rawalpindi some time ago and has been questioned by intelligence agencies.
The major was taken into custody after the FBI found out he was in email and telephonic contact with Headley and Rana.
Some media reports have suggested that the arrested major's name is Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, alias Pasha.
The News daily reported today that US investigators were trying to ascertain if Pasha is the brother-in-law of Qari Saifullah Akhtar, the absconding chief of the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami.
Authorities also believe Pasha was a key link between Headley and his handlers in the LeT, which Pakistan has acknowledged was behind the Mumbai attacks.
Akhtar, who was arrested in 1995 for conspiring to topple the second government of former premier Benazir Bhutto, was named by the slain leader in her posthumous book 'Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West' as a principal suspect in the October 18, 2007 attempt on her life in Karachi. Akhtar was freed under mysterious circumstances in 1996. A spokesman for Pakistan's interior ministry said authorities would conduct an investigation against Pasha only if there is a formal request from the FBI.
Interior minister Rehman Malik has already said that Headley should be punished under US laws if it is established that he had committed any crimes.
Pakistan will assist in the probe against Headley if it receives a request through Interpol or from the US, he added.
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