Headley had visited India eight times which included seven trips to Mumbai.
Pakistani American terrorist David Coleman Headley has made shocking revelations while deposing through a video link from overseas. Headley said that he had visited India on 7th March 2009 from Lahore to Delhi after the occurrence of 26/11 terror attack. He added that two attempts were made to attack Mumbai before the final attack on November 26, 2008. According to Headley, the first attempt was made in September 2008, which failed because the boat hit some rocks in the sea. The people on board were saved as they were wearing life saving jackets. However, the weapons and explosives were lost. He said that the second attempt was made after a month in October 2008. Headley said that Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) had planned and executed 26/11 attacks and he and ISI officials too were involved in it.
Headley received training from LeT in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Abbottabad near Islamabad under the guidance of LeT founder “Hafiz Saeed sahib.”
“I used to treat India as my enemy. Hafiz Saeed and LeT operative Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi also saw India as their enemy,” Headley told the Special Judge during his first deposition in special TADA court.
Headley had changed his name from Dawood Gilani to David Coleman Headley in 2006 for entering India. His objective was to obtain an American identity for establishing some business in India and reside here. 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 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,” said Headley.
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. All details except place of birth, date of birth, mother’s nationality and passport number, were incorrect in his visa application. After receiving new passport Headley visited India eight times, out of eight times he visited Mumbai seven times.
“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.
The prosecution team was headed by Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and well known criminal lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani represented Headley before the special TADA court.
“I am absolutely satisfied with what Headley had revealed in today’s deposition. Headley has given certain sensational reve-lations during his deposition. He confirmed that he met Hafiz Saeed and he identified his picture as well,” said Nikam.
The special prosecutor 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.”
“It is clear, we think, that there was a close nexus between ISI and LeT. That is what has been gathered from the revelations made from Mr Headley,” said Nikam.
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 Pakistan but left for America at the age of 17.”
Headley said he had undergone 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 Kashmir’ (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.
Headley is currently serving 35 years in an American prison after being convicted of being involved in the planning and execution of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, in which 166 persons were killed and 300 injured.
