Pakistani-American Lashkar e-Taiba operative David Headley deposed before a Mumbai court for the second day on Tuesday via video conferencing from the United States. One of the accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Headley turned approver in the case and has been revealing information on the LeT and other terror units in Pakistan, and well as pinpointing the role of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI in terror activities targeted at India.
In addition to revealing the he was trying to recruit Indian armymen to spy for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, Headley provided detailed descriptions of how the 2008 terror attacks where planned, which locations in Mumbai were surveyed, and how the various terror units in Pakistan interact and target India.
Scroll.in has been tracking his revelations as he makes them:
12.45 pm: Headley claims he was working closely with the ISI, and during his time there met many people from the Pakistan army. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said that when asked whom he knew in the ISI, David Headley named Brigadier Riyaz, Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samar Ali.
12.25 pm: In a damning declaration, David Headley said that the IS provides "moral, military and financial" aid to the Lashkar e-Taiba.
10.52 am: ANI reported that Headley is listing various LeT targets in Mumbai.
10.45 am: Headley says he set up an office in Mumbai with help of a Dr Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a former army doctor in Pakistan who was his classmate in school. Dr Rana was convicted in the US for providing material support to the LeT, and also helped Headley get a multiple entry business visa to the US. Headley says he took photographs and videos of the first and second floors at the Taj, though he did not know that it was going to be attacked. He then corroborated this by identifying his signature from the Taj guest book.
9.45 am: Headley's wife Faiza lodged a complaint with the US embassy in Islamabad saying he had close links with the LeT, he said. He also identified a photo of Abdul Rahman Pasha, an LeT leader whom he said he met in 2003 at a Lahore mosque.
9.20 am: Headley says that LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen are working under the United Jihad council out of Pakistan and targeting India. He also says that in October 2003, he met Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar 100 miles away from South Lahore at a meeting of LeT operatives. Azhar was the guest speaker at the event.
9.05 am: The decision to carry out the Mumbai terror attack was made in 2007, Headley says. Towards the end of that year, a meeting took place in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, which was attended by Sajid Mir, Abu Khafa and Headley, he claimed. At this meeting, he was asked to go to Mumbai and do a recce of the Taj hotel, ANI reported. During their plans, they wanted to focus on a conference hall in the hotel, where a meeting of defence scientists had been planned, but later cancelled. The terrorists had made a dummy of the hotel to train the attackers.
8.45 am: David Headley claims he advised the attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, top LeT operative Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi to "legally challenge" the US ban on the terror organisation, NDTV reported. He said he met them in 2002. Moreover, the Pakistani-American claims one of his tasks included infiltrating the Indian army to recruit people to spy for the ISI.
8:25 am: Headley has told the court that a retired Pakistani Major joined Al-Qaeda and helped provide weapon training to LeT personnel, CNN-IBN reported.
7:54 am: Pakistani-American Lashkar e-Taiba operative David Headley began his deposition before a Mumbai court on Tuesday via video conferencing from the United States. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam arrived at the court earlier in the morning, along with several officials and mediapersons. One of the key handlers for the attacks, Zaibuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, is also expected to testify on Tuesday.
Headley had on Monday made several revelations about the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, for which he is an approver. He had said that the terror group had attempted two attacks before the 26/11 one, and that members of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence agency had helped him get a passport to come to India for a reconnaissance.
According to The Times of India, home ministry officials are skeptical of whether Headley’s revelations about the involvement of Hafiz Saeed, Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi and several ISI officers will yield a concrete response from Pakistan.
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