Apart from linking Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to the lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT), terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley on Monday made a sensational disclosure in his deposition before a special court in the 26/11 attacks case that the terror outfit had made two unsuccessful attempts to attack Mumbai prior to the 2008 mayhem in which 166 people were killed and 300 injured.
Deposing before a special court here through a video-conference from an undisclosed location in the United States, incarcerated Headley spoke at length about the training he underwent under leT founder Hafiz Saeed and leT chief-of-operations Zaki-ur-Rehman lakhvi; the manner in which he was dissuaded from going to Kashmir to wage war against Indian troops; about his association with his handler Sajid Mir and how he got to know three officers of the ISI.
Another major revelation on the first day of the deposition was that Headley named Major (Retd) Abdur Rehman Pasha, who once worked with Khyber Rifles Regimental Centre, Major Iqbal of ISI, who was in touch with his handler Sajid Mir and Major Ali, who interrogated him in the landi Kotal jail and later ensured his discharge from a Peshwar jail in 2002-03 in an arms smuggling case.
“Major Ali (who was working for ISI at landi Kotal) introduced me to Major Iqbal because Ali thought that I could be of assistance in Intelligence work,” Headley said.
Testifying before the court of Additional Sessions Judge GA Sanap, Headley said he joined leT in 2002 and changed his name from Dawood Gilani to David Coleman Headley four years later to hide his identity during visits to India for carrying out reconnaissance for the 26/11 attacks.
Responding to a question by Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ujjwal Nikam, Headley said that Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal were happy when he secured the American passport in his new name and the Indian visa.
Headley said that Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a former Pakistan military physician convicted for providing support to leT for plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper, had helped him get a five-year visa to India.
“Rana knew something about the 26/11 attacks and the purpose of my visit to India,” Headley told the court.
Describing himself as a “true follower of the lashkar” who had been tasked with making a general video of Mumbai, Headley said he had travelled to India as many as seven times and passed on information he collected to the leT.
Headley, currently serving a 35-year sentence in a terror case in a US jail following a plea bargain that saved him from a death sentence and extradition, was deposing in the trial of key conspirator of 26/11 attacks Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, two months after he was pardoned and made an approver in the case.
During the five-and-a-half-hour-long deposition which began at 7 am and ended for the day at 12.30 pm, SPP Nikam posed more than 150 questions to Headley. The deposition will continue on Tuesday.
Headley was accompanied by Sarah Stricker, a US attorney, John Theis, attorney for Headley and his associate Bob Ceder.
From the Indian side, Mumbai Crime Branch-CID chief Atul Kulkarni and retired police officer Ramesh Mahale, who headed the investigations into the 26/11 attacks, were present in the court.
Senior counsel Mahesh Jethmalani, who was present in court, clarified that he was not representing Headley, but was there at the request of Headley’s attorney, should they require any help regarding laws in India.
Headley disclosed that the same ten terrorists, who carried out the 26/11 attacks, had made two unsuccessful attempts to attack Mumbai in September and October 2008.
“Sajid Mir told me the plan failed twice. The first attempt in September 2008 failed when the boat hit a rock in the ocean. The people were saved by the life jackets but the weapons and ammunition were lost and the boat disintegrated. However, the ten terrorists made it to shore and returned to Pakistan.”
Asked how many terrorists were involved in the first and second failed attempts, Headley said: “The same group of ten people was involved in both unsuccessful attempts and the 26/11 attacks.”
Asked who the head of leT was, Headley responded: “Hafiz Saeed”. The SPP showed him a photograph which Headley correctly identified as that of Hafiz Saeed. Asked if leT was a militant organisation, Headley replied in the affirmative.
later, talking to reporters, Nikam said: “Headley’s deposition has clearly established that there is a close nexus between ISI and leT. He is sticking to the terms and conditions that were agreed to between India and the US Government.”
Asked if the deposition could be used to mount pressure on Pakistan to act against masterminds and handlers of the 26/11 attacks, Nikam said: “It is for the Indian Government to decide. My effort will be to bring the truth out”.
Earlier, Headley told the court that he underwent five to six training courses in leT camps for about two years. “Daura-e-Suffa 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 Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. In Daura-e-Khas, which is an advanced training, I was taught to handle weapons, explosives and ammunition,” the leT operative said.
He was also given ‘Daura-e-Ribat’ training, an Intelligence course in which setting up of safe houses and reconnaissance are taught in Mansera, 40 miles from Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Headley said he underwent a leadership training course under Hafiz Saeed and lakhvi and identified his trainers as Abu Furkhan, Sanaullah, Abu Hamzala, Abu Usman, Abu Saeed and Abu Fahdullah.
