INDIA EXPRESSED “DISAPPOINTED” AT THE ACQUITTAL OF TAHAWWUR HUSSAIN RANA
The Union government has expressed “disappointment” at the acquittal of Tahawwur Hussain Rana by a U.S. court on the count of conspiracy to provide material support for the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008.“We are disappointed that Rana was acquitted on the count of conspiracy to provide material support for the Mumbai attacks. However, it must be remembered that Rana was tried in a U.S. court in accordance with the U.S. law. Criminal trials in the U.S. are jury trials, and there are special rules governing such trials,” U.K. Bansal, Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs, said in a statement here on Friday(10TH June,2011).
He said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the case against Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley, Rana and others decided to wait for the proceedings to conclude in the U.S. court before filing a charge sheet against them in India.“The NIA has also sought certain documents and evidence that were produced in the U.S. court, and expects to receive them. After examining the verdict in the U.S. court and reviewing the documents and evidence it expects to receive, the NIA will take a decision on filing a charge sheet against Headley, Rana and others in an Indian court,” Mr. Bansal said. Mr. Bansal said evidence was produced in the U.S. court to prove that David Headley had advised Rana of his assignment to scout for targets in India; that Headley had obtained Rana's consent to open an office of First World Immigration Services as a cover for his activities; that Rana had advised Headley on how to obtain a visa for travel to India; and that Headley and Rana reviewed the surveillance by Headley of targets that were attacked in Mumbai.Evidence was also produced to prove that Rana had told Headley that the terrorists involved in Mumbai attacks should receive Pakistan's highest military honours posthumously.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on Friday said that India was not satisfied with the verdict on Tahawwur Rana.The conspiracy behind the Mumbai attacks, he said, had to be investigated in a very transparent manner so that we can be satisfied with the way the investigations were carried on. “It is a judicial process and it is the law of the land. We are dealing with a foreign country and we have to pursue it further,” Mr. Krishna said. Asked if Pakistan had created a road block in the trial, he said: “Yes. Pakistan has not been playing fair with us and we would expect in the larger interest of bilateral relations that Pakistan should come clean with us.”
Prof. John Kurakar
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