The leadership of Pakistan’s ISI agency was not
involved in planning the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks, self-confessed
plotter David Coleman Headley testified Tuesday.
Headley,
who has pleaded guilty to 12 terror charges arising out of the attacks
on India’s financial capital, said during the Chicago trial of his
childhood friend, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, that no more than a handful of
ISI agents were involved in the plot.
“The colonel might have known and someone in the group might have known,” Headley testified.
But
when asked by Rana’s defense attorney if he meant that neither the head
of the ISI nor its senior leadership were involved Headley testified
“Yes.”
The
Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed, stalled a fragile
four-year peace process between India and Pakistan, two South Asian
neighbors and nuclear-armed rivals, which was only resumed in February.
Pakistan’s
powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has long been
suspected of involvement and three ISI agents were named as
co-conspirators by US prosecutors.
However, Headley’s testimony supports Pakistan’s assertion that the ISI’s involvement was limited to a handful of rogue agents.
Rana
is accused of providing Headley with a cover and acting as a messenger,
with prosecutors alleging he played a behind-the-scenes logistical role
in both the Mumbai attacks and another abortive plan to strike
Copenhagen.
Rana,
a Canadian-Pakistani and Chicago businessman, has denied all charges,
and his defense attorneys argue that he was duped by his friend, whom
he had met in military school.
The
Mumbai attacks also left more than 300 people wounded after coordinated
strikes on high-profile targets by 10 heavily armed Islamist
extremists. AFP
