Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

India-Pakistan

Facing heat from FATF, 26/11 planner Sajid Mir who was a myth becomes a reality in Pakistan

2022-06-26

[OneIndia] Pakistain denied his existence at first and when the pressure increased, they said he was not a handler but a Mullah. The man is Sajid Mir who Pakistain claims to have arrested.

Mir was David Headley's handler who carried out the reconnaissance of Mumbai prior to the attacks of 26/11. An ISI asset, Mir carries an FBI
FBI

...Formerly one of the world's premier criminal investigation organizations, something for a nation to be proud of. Now it's a political arm of the Deep State oligarchy that is willing to trump up charges, suppress evidence, or take out insurance policies come election time...
bounty of $5 million on his head. In arresting Mir, Pakistain has once again displayed that it is all so predictable and the action comes at a time when the cash strapped nation is trying to wriggle out of the Grey List of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Pakistain has denied the very existence of Mir to such an extent that one had wondered whether the man was a myth.

The Intelligence files indicate clearly that Mir was the most important person in the 26/11 attacks. Until 2020, Pakistain denied the existence of this man. An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that Mir was working with the ISI before he was tasked the job of organising and overseeing the attacks of 26/11.

When Mir's name cropped up for the first time, Pakistain denied his involvement. In fact Islamabad spun a theory that the man being referred was a case of mistaken identity. Pakistain said that Mir was not part of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, but is a Moslem holy man.

The Intelligence files also show that he was withdrawn of all duties post the attack. The Indian Intelligence also managed to track his addresses to Rawalpindi and Lahore.

Mir, who has been given seven tier security was more or less a myth for long as the information on him was highly guarded by the ISI. Mir is a top player in the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. He has been called as an international terrorist as he has carried out operations in different parts of the world including La Belle France.

Prior to the 26/11 attack, he had visited India as a cricket fan. It is believed he was here to study the targets that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was planning to hit on November 26 2008.

The 1976 born terrorist, Mir was initially holed up at Murdike as per the intelligence provided to India by the Mossad. Now his home is the near the Ganda Nala lane in Lahore Pakistain which is very close to Murdike which also happens to be one of the main base camps of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

No amount of surveillance done by the Indian agencies was able to track this man down. However it was the Mossad agents who had provided India with ample information and his movement and it was found that he had moved into the Muridke camp of the Lashkar.

Link

India-Pakistan

With India-Bangladesh coming together, ISI set to get further exposed on fake currency

2022-01-18

[OneIndia] The National Investigation Agency has begun its probe in coordination with authorities in Bangladesh to unearth the larger conspiracy by Pakistain to pump fake currency into India.

Arpan Saha, the NIA's inspector posted at the Guwahati Branch office is the Chief Investigating Officer.

The probe was ordered last month by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the NIA Act of 2008.

While it was always clear that the ISI was behind pumping fake currency into India, it became even more clearer following the arrest of two fake currency smugglers Fatema Akthar Aapi and her associate Sk Md Taleb. They were arrested by the Bangladesh police in November 2021 and during their questioning they revealed the role being played by the ISI in the racket.

In this context it would be interesting to note how the ISI has over the years used fake currency as a means to destabilise the Indian economy and also use the proceeds from the racket to fund terror acts in India.

Among the many revelations that David Headley linked to the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack made, one was relating to fake currency. He said during his deposition that he had received fake Indian currency from an ISI official Major Iqbal.

Major Iqbal is part of the ISI and he was David Headley's handler during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. This makes it very clear that the Pakistain establishment is directly involved in the circulation of fake currency in India.

Fake Indian currency produced in Pakistain is a major money spinner. There is fake Indian currency to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore that is pumped into India every year. While India has repeatedly said that it is the Pakistain's ISI which criminal masterminds this racket there has always been an obvious denial.

However,
women are made to be loved, not understood...
what Headley said does blow the lid of the ISI's claims. When Headley visited India several times to carry out a reconnaissance of the targets in Mumbai, he was paid money several times by various persons. He named Sajid Mir, Major Pasha, Tawwahur Rana and also Major Iqbal who had given him money.

In Pakistain it is expected that anyone visiting India has to carry a certain amount of fake Indian currency with them. At times it is the Death Eaters who bring it in and on other occasions it is the drug mafia.

While circulating fake currency gets the ISI a good amount of money the larger plan is also to disrupt the Indian economy.

Link

India-Pakistan

Guided by ex-Pak army officials, operating in buddy pairs: Why the Poonch encounter has dragged so much

2021-10-26

[OneIndia] The ongoing encounter in the Bhata Dhurian entered into its 16th days making it one of the longest battle with the terrorists. While the Indian Army suffered many casualties during the encounter, the new strategy is to adopt a wait and watch policy.

In the encounter, nine Army personnel including JCOs have bit the dust. Sources tell OneIndia that the gunnies are very highly trained and are being guided on a minute to minute basis by officials of the Pakistain Army. It is also clear that they have been battle hardened during the extensive training imparted to them by the Pakistain Army. A TOI report also said that these gunnies could be working under the guidance of retired Pakistain Army personnel as well.

Pakistain has very often in the past used the services of retired army personnel to train their terrorists.

The investigation into the Mumbai 26/11 attacks made it clear that a group of former naval officers had trained the gunnies to launch an attack from the seas.

An official said that this has been an old strategy by the Pakistain establishment to use retired personnel to train terrorists. They have a deniability factor and if it comes to light, they will reject all allegations that the gunnies were trained by the state.

In this context one must look into the role played by the mysterious Sajid Mir in the 26/11 attacks.

He had coordinated with David Headley and played an extremely crucial role in the logistics part of the attacks. While Pakistain continues to deny Mir's existence, the Indian Intelligence agencies say that Mir was once part of the ISI. He was then asked to quit to specifically train and guide gunnies of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

In the ongoing Poonch encounter, the role of the retired army personnel has come to light. A specific team has been put in place to particularly train and then guide the terrorists. This is one of the major reasons why the encounter has been on for long. Like one saw in the Mumbai attacks, the gunnies in the Poonch encounter have been effective as they have been operating in buddy pairs.

The gunnies have managed to drag this encounter for so long due to the advantage they took in operating in pairs of two. This has allowed them to change positions continuously and engage a larger number of troops.

Around 10 gunnies of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba infiltrated from Pakistain into the judges over the past three months. While the patrolling and the security measures along the border with Pakistain has been very high, these gunnies managed to infiltrate as they came in, in smaller numbers and not as an entire group. This may have helped them dodge the security agencies, officials say.

Link

Home Front: WoT

26/11 attack accused Tawahhur Rana to remain in US custody

2021-06-25

[OneIndia] Pakistain origin, Canada businessman, Tahawwur Rana,

... Captain Tahawwur Hussain Rana, retired, is former military doctor who served in the Pakistani Army. He moved to Canada in 1997, then became a citizen, finding work providing immigration services. In 2011 he was sentenced to 14 years for aiding an abortive LeT plot to attack Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten for publishing cartoons of Prophet Muhammad...

an accused in the Mumbai 26/11 attack will remain in the United States as a federal judge in Los Angeles weighs whether he will be extradited to India or not.

The in-person extradition hearing of Rana at the request of the Indian government was held in the court of magistrate judge, Jacqueline Choolijan who on Thursday ordered the defence attorneys and prosecutors to file additional documents by July 15.

The United State government, in multiple submissions before the court, has made a declaration in support of the "United States' Surrebuttal in Support of its Request for Certification of Extradition.

Rana is sought in India in connection with his involvement in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack.

Rana, a childhood friend of prime convict David Coleman Headley,

...a.k.a. David Headly and Dawood Gilani, they became friends when they were at Pakistani military school together...

was re-arrested on June 10, 2020 in Los Angeles on an extradition request by India for his involvement in the Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people, including six Americans, were killed.

...that was former drug trafficker Mr. Headly’s big project...

He has been declared a runaway by India.

Headley, 60, was made an approver in the case, and is currently serving a 35-year prison term in the US for his role in the attack. Rana has opposed his extradition to India, arguing that he has already been convicted by a US court in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown

reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown

...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
The United States government asserts that the premise of Rana's argument is incorrect because the Indian substantive charges are not considered lesser included offenses of their conspiracy charges.

As per the India-US Extradition Treaty, the Indian government has requested the formal extradition of Rana, and the United States has initiated this extradition proceeding. The US government has argued that Rana meets all the criteria warranting certification of his extradition to India.

These are: the court has both personal and subject matter jurisdiction, there is an extradition treaty between the United States and India that is in full force and effect, and the crimes for which Rana's extradition is sought are covered by the terms of the treaty.

In his previous court submission on February 4, Rana's attorney had argued that Rana's extradition is barred under Article 6 of the United States-India extradition treaty because he had previously been acquitted of the offences for which his extradition is sought, and under Article 9 of the treaty because the government has not established probable cause to believe that Rana committed the alleged offences.

Link

India-Pakistan

Paris attacker linked to Mumbai 26/11 strikes reveals new documentary

2021-06-24

[OneIndia] A new documentary has spoken about the involvement of the Gay Paree attack conspirator Muhammad Ghani Usman

...who is not in the Rantburg archives with that spelling...

, a Pak national and Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist in the planning and execution of the Mumbai 26/11 attacks.

Usman is currently is in a jail in La Belle France after being arrested in connection with the Gay Paree attack in 2015. The documentary aired by German broadcaster DW aims to find out the financing, planning and commissioning of terror attacks in Europe.

Quoting London based security analyst, Sajjan Gohel, the documentary says, " this man was a key member of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. It is believed that he was a part of the operations planning for the attacks in Mumbai in 2008. Yet, nothing was done."

It may be recalled that Usman was questioned by the NIA in 2019. The NIA learnt that Usman was in touch with David Headley, the man who conducted the reconnaissance for the 26/11 attacks.

Further the documentary speaks about the major conspiracies hatched by the turbans and also reveals the name of Sajid Mir. "Suspects in the US confirm the existence of Sajid Mir and his role in recruiting and indoctrinating westerners with an aim of sending them back to Europa
Europa

...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
or the US to carry out attacks in the name of LeT," the documentary said while quoting Jean-Louis Bruguiere, a former French investigative judge, anti-terrorism.

Link

India-Pakistan

Nagrota, Kashmir: Big attack aimed at diverting Imran Khan’s problems back home

2020-11-22

[OneIndia] Earlier this week, the Indian security averted a major attack after gunning down four Jaish-e-Mohammad
...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat...
forces of Evil at Nagrota, Jammu and Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
Investigations revealed that the heavily armed forces of Evil were attempting a major strike, with the view of disrupting the electoral process.

The forces of Evil were in direct touch with the operational commander of the JeM, Mufti Rauf Asghar, who is the brother of the outfit's boss, Maulana Masood Azhar

...One of the major players in Pak terrorism. In early 1994, India incarcerated him for his activities. In 1995, foreign tourists were kidnapped in Jammu and Kashmir. The kidnappers included his release among their demands. One of the hostages managed to escape but the rest were eventually killed. In 1999, he was freed by the Indian government in exchange for passengers on hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 that had been diverted to Kandahar. The hijackers were led by Masood Azhar's brother, Ibrahim Athar. Once he was handed over to the hijackers, they fled to Pak territory despite the fact that Islamabad had earlier stated that any of the hijackers would be jugged at the border. The Pak government had also previously indicated that Azhar would be allowed to return home since he did not face any charges there. Shortly after his release, he made a public address to an estimated 10,000 people in Karachi, firing up the rubes against America and India...
. Intelligence Bureau officials tell OneIndia that the motive was not only to disrupt the electoral process, but also make Kashmir a focal point once again.

Pakistain's Prime Minister, Imran Khan
...aka The Great Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five...
is under pressure from the opposition to make Kashmir a talking point again. The multiple successes enjoyed by the Indian security forces in gunning down a large number of forces of Evil in the Valley has not only put the terror groups on the back-foot, but the Pakistain establishment as well.

Since the abrogation of Article 370, Pakistain has tried making Kashmir a talking point on several occasions. It has resorted to multiple ceasefire violations in a bid to cover fire to the infiltrating terrorists.

Pakistain also tried to raking up several issues in the Valley through propaganda. However this time around the separatists could not manage to deliver the desired results. A major attack in the Valley would have also meant that Khan's pressure from the opposition on Kashmir would have reduced.

Nagrota: JeM terrorist’s MPD mobile reveals chat with Pakistan based handler

[OneIndia] Is there any difficulty, are you sleeping and where have you arrived.

This was the message that one of the four Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists had received from the handler in Pakistan.

Four JeM terrorists were gunned down in an encounter at Nagrota on Thursday. They were on their way to execute a major attack in the Valley. The handler asks about their whereabouts and whether they had any difficulty in reaching. To this the terrorist replies 2 baje or 2 O clock.

The message was sent to the MPD mobile from Pakistan that was being used by the terrorists. This is not an android phone and is used only for text messages and chats.

The terrorists had plans of disrupting the district development council (DDC) elections.

The decision by India to hold these elections had irked Pakistan due to which the ISI along with the Jaish-e-Mohammad planned a major attack to disrupt the elections.

Intelligence Bureau officials tell OneIndia that they were planning a strike on the anniversary of the 26/11 attacks. Their intention was also to derail the election process.

The IB officer also said that Pakistan had planned a series of propaganda activities in the Valley, but were not getting the desired results. The fact that the security forces had gunned down a large number of terrorists had also derailed Pakistan's agenda.

The officer cited above said that the very fact that there is such enthusiasm among the political class to take part in the elections also did not bode well with Pakistan. Looking the seizures in Nagrota, it is clear that something really big was planned. Had the four JeM terrorists managed to get away, an unthinkable catastrophe would have taken place, the officer also said.

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, foreign secretary and top intelligence officials following the killing of four Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists at Nagrota.

The terrorists killed in the encounter on Thursday came in a truck in which it was written, 'death keeps no calendar. The investigations showed that the truck bore a fake registration number.

The gun battle started at around 5 am near the toll plaza in the Ban area of Nagrota on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Thursday. Jammu district police chief SSP Shridhar Patil said that around 5 AM some terrorists opened fire at security forces near Ban Toll Plaza in Nagrota area.

"Four terrorists have been neutralised and one police constable injured in an encounter at Ban Toll Plaza Jammu with Police, CRPF and Army. Area is being sanitised," the police said.

The terrorists were carrying a huge cache of arms, ammunition. They were on the verge of executing a big plan, Inspector General of Police, Jammu, Mukesh Singh said. Singh also said that the truck driver is absconding and the police has launched a manhunt for him. It is possible that they were planning a big attack.

Link

India-Pakistan

LeT wanted to kill Thackeray: Headley

2016-03-25

[Daily Excelsior] Pak-American terrorist David Headley today told a court here that LeT wanted to eliminate Bal Thackeray
Head of Shiv Sena, which is pushing "Hinduvta" in India......
but the person who was assigned the job to kill the late Shiv Sena
A Hindoo nationalist political movement that presents a resistance using the same nasty tactics to aggressive Islamists and that's a pain in the underwear to other Indian political parties...
chief was "nabbed

Link

India-Pakistan

Headley illustrates LeT carried out 26/11 attacks with ISI help

2016-02-09

[Daily Excelsior] Pak-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, a key LeT operative, today illustrated how his outfit had planned the 26/11 attacks and executed it after two failed attempt
Curses! Foiled again!
s and gave details of the role played by ISI whose three officials he named.

Headley, who is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, spoke about the role of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed

...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
, another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler in the outfit Sajid Mir.

He gave the sequence of events leading up to the November 26, 2008 assault as he deposed before Special Judge GA Sanap via video link, in the first such case of deposition in an Indian court from foreign land.

The 55-year-old, who has turned approver in the case, revealed details about his training by LeT in Pakistain-Indian Kashmiree (PoK) and Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
near Islamabad under the guidance of LeT founder "Hafiz Saeed sahab", whose picture he identified in the court, as also Lakhvi, and how he got in touch with three officers of Pakistain's ISI -- Major Ali and Major Iqbal and Major Abdul Rehman Pasha.

Headley told the court that he had changed his name from the original Dawood Gilani after instructions from the LeT commanders, including Lakhvi, and ISI officials to carry out recce in India for an attack, an "adventurous" task for him.

He also revealed that the 10 terrorists, who struck at various places in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 killing 166 people, had planned to carry out the attack twice earlier -- in September and October -- but the attempts failed. Once their boat hit a rock in the seas, because of which they lost all the arms and ammunition and had to go back to Pakistain.

"I used to treat India as my enemy. Hafiz Saeed and LeT operative Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi also saw India as their enemy," he said in his deposition which began at 7 AM.

He said he had joined the LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of "Hafiz Saeed Sahab".

Headley, who described himself as a "true follower of LeT, said he took his first "course" with the outfit in 2002 at Muzaffarabad and had also attended a 'leadership course' which was led by Saeed and Lakhvi.

He said he underwent 5-6 training courses in LeT camps for about two years. "Daura-e-sufa is a study course and is held in Muridke in Lahore while 'Daura-e-aam' is a preliminary military training course held in Muzaffarabad in 'Azad Kashmire' (PoK)," Headley said.

In 'Daura-e-Khas, which is a more advanced training, he was taught to handle weapons, arms, explosives and ammunition, the LeT operative said.

He said he was also given 'Daura-e-Ribat' training, an intelligence course in which setting up of safe houses and reconnaissance are taught. The center where it is taught is in Mansera, 40 miles from Abbottabad, a place in Pakistain where former Al Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden
... who is no longer with us, and won't be again...
was killed by the US.

Headley said he had wanted go to Kashmire and fight Indian troops but he was told that he was "too old" for that. "Lakhvi told me that they would use me for some other purpose," he said, adding it was to be more "adventurous" than Kashmire.

Talking about his travels to India, Headley said, "Before the first visit here, Sajid Mir (his LeT handler and an accused in the case) gave me instructions to make a general video of Mumbai."

He said he visited Mumbai seven times before the 2008 terror attack and Delhi once after the attack in March 2009.

To enter India, he said he changed his name from Dawood Gilani to David Headley in 2006 so that he could travel here with an American identity and set up some business.

"I applied for change in name on February 5, 2006 in Philadelphia. I changed my name to David Headley to get a new passport under that name. I wanted a new passport so that I could enter India with an American identity.

"After I got a new passport, I disclosed it to my colleagues in LeT of which one of them was Sajid Mir, the person with whom I was dealing with. The objective for coming to India was to set up an office/business so that I can live in India," he said.

Headley said he had applied for business multiple-entry visa with the Indian embassy so that he does not have to apply for Indian visa repeatedly.

"My office was established in Mumbai so that I could take cover in India," Headley told the court, adding he wanted the cover so that his real identity would not be known.

He said while applying for the Indian visa, he cooked up a story that he was an immigration consultant and had furnished all wrong information to protect his cover.

"I had discussed it (cover story) with Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal of ISI, and they were very happy to see my Indian visa," Headley told the court.

He said he knew Major Iqbal of ISI and had met him in Lahore after one Major Ali (also from ISI) introduced him to the former.

Special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who examined Headley and will do so again tomorrow, said, "I am absolutely satisfied with what Headley had revealed in today's deposition. Headley has given certain sensational revelations during his deposition. He confirmed that he met Hafiz Saeed and he identified his picture as well."

He said, "He (Headley) revealed a lot about Major Iqbal and Major Ali, both of them were there in ISI. It was Major Iqbal who trained him and he also unravelled names of few LeT trainers before the court."

Nikam said Headley had "joined a leadership course where both Sayeed and Lakhvi used to come and give speeches against India. He completed his education from Hasan Abdal Cadet College in Pakistain but left for America at the age of 17."

Headley's lawyer's Mahesh Jethmalini said he has confessed that he had joined LeT after being influenced by Hafiz Saeed.

Headley wanted to fight actively in Kashmire against the Indian Army but LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi
...an asset of the Pak govt and a big turban in Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is actually a redundant statement. Zak was the criminal mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attack. Despite what India's provided there is not enough evidence in this world for a Pak court to convict him or even to keep him in the calaboose for very long...
stopped him, saying something more "adventurous" was in store for him.

Giving details about the deposition of Headley which began at 7 AM here, Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told news hounds here that the terrorist said he wanted to fight against the Army deployed in Kashmire.

However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
Lahvi told Headley that they have something "more adventurous" for him.

Link

India-Pakistan

Pakistan mole provided info on 26/11 landing site

2013-11-10

[The Hindu] A Pak mole in the Indian security agencies, code-named 'Honey Bee', helped his ISI handlers identify the landing site for 26/11 snuffies in Mumbai, two British journalists have claimed in their book.

The information on Badhwar Park, the landing site, was shared by ISI operatives with Pak-American Lashkar operative David Headley, who had checked it out while conducting recce of the area, the journalists say.

The book, by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, The Siege, claims that Headley underwent a two-year course on surveillance and counter-intelligence by Pakistain's espionage agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

His handler, Major Iqbal of ISI, gave him what he described as classified Indian files -- that he said were obtained from within Indian police and army -- which revealed their training and limitations.

"The Major boasted that they had a super agent at work in New Delhi who was known as Honey Bee. The Major revealed while he would guide Headley, the Mumbai operation would be run by Lashkar," the book claimed. According to the book, before leaving Pakistain, Headley met Major Iqbal, who gave him a bundle of counterfeit Indian currency and a suggestion.

Link

Terror Networks

Headley listed among 5 high-value targets

2013-02-16

President Barack Obamas top counterterrorism adviser John Brennan has listed convicted key Mumbai terror attack plotter David Coleman Headley among five high-value targets that had been captured with US intelligence support.

Brennan, Obamas nominee to be the next chief of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), listed Pakistani-American Headley, who was last month sentenced to 35 years of imprisonment by a Chicago court for his role in the Lashkar-e-Taiba staged November 2008 Mumbai attack, in response to questions from a Senate panel.

Since January 2009 when he became Obamas terrorism adviser, dozens of individuals have been arrested, detained, interrogated, and convicted of terrorism-related offences in federal court, he told the Senate Intelligence Committee in written answers Friday.

Individuals arrested here in the United States include David Headley, Mansoor Arbabsiar, Najibullah Zazi, Faisal Shahzad, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

Individuals initially taken into US custody overseas include Ahmed Ghailani, Jesse Curtis Morton, Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed, and Betim Kaziu, and subsequently brought to the United States for interrogation and prosecution, Brennan said.

In response to other questions, Brennan said setting up a special court to oversee deadly drone strikes against American citizens is worth considering but raises difficult questions over how much authority it would have in decisions currently made by the president.

It would raise some novel, and potentially difficult, questions and furthermore would grant courts authority over decisions that have traditionally been exercised principally, if not exclusively, by the executive branch, he said.

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India-Pakistan

India to press for Headleys extradition

2013-01-26

NEW DELHI - India said on Friday that it would continue to press for the extradition of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Headley, sentenced by a US court to 35 years in prison for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attack, and would have sought more punishment had he been tried here.

Works for me. Let him serve 35 years in an Indian prison, so long as he gets the death penalty afterwards...

Ministers, the ruling Congress as well as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the government should keep trying for the extradition of the Pakistani American who played a key role in the 26/11 attack.

A day after the Chicago court ruling, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said: "Had we tried him, we would have sought much more. "We are a little disappointed as we wanted that he should have been brought here and tried as the real loss has been of India. It would have been appropriate if he would have been tried here," Khurshid told reporters here.

Link

Home Front: WoT

US court to sentence David Headley today

2013-01-24

Chicago: A court here on Thursday will announce the quantum of punishment for Pakistani-American David Headley, a key plotter in the deadly 2008 Mumbai terror attacks staged by Pakistan based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

US federal prosecutors have sought 30 to 35 years in prison for Headley, who has pleaded guilty to his role in the 26/11 attacks that killed 160 people.

Headley, 52, son of a Pakistani father and an American mother, had changed his given name of Dawood Gilani to scout targets in Mumbai without arousing suspicion.

Ahead of Headley's sentencing, Gary Shapiro, the acting US Attorney in Chicago, in a memo to the federal district court on Tuesday said that the 30-35 year sentence recommended by the prosecution for Headley was fair.

"While his criminal conduct was deplorable, the uniquely significant cooperation which he provided to the government's efforts to combat terrorism supports the government's recommendations," he said.

Headley could receive up to life in prison.

Prosecutors had agreed not to seek the death penalty for Headley in exchange for his plea after he promised in 2010 to cooperate with US authorities.

US Attorney General Eric Holder noted at the time that he had provided extensive "valuable intelligence about terrorist activities".

Headley was the star witness against his Pakistan-born boyhood friend Tahawwur Rana, who was sentenced last week to 14 years in prison for aiding an abortive LeT plot to attack Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten for publishing cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.

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