Rana trial will blow the lid off ISI's role in Mumbai attacks

By Uttara Choudhury

Pakistan-born Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who has Canadian citizenship, goes on trial on Monday in a Chicago court for allegedly helping American David Headley find targets in Mumbai for the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). During the course of the trial testimony he is expected to starkly implicate officials working in Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency.

“The trial is going to show that this conspiracy was not hatched in Chicago where Dr Rana lives. This conspiracy the trial will show was hatched in Pakistan,” Rana’s attorney, Charles Swift told Firstpost.

Rana, a former military doctor in Pakistan, is charged with letting Headley use his Chicago business — First World Immigration Services Inc, on Devon Avenue — as a cover when Headley traveled to India five times to scout for sites to attack. Rana’s legal-eagles are expected to make the case that Rana thought Headley was assisting the ISI with a harmless operation to spy on Indian Hindu extremist groups. He didn’t have a clue that something as macabre as the Mumbai assault was being plotted instead by the ISI.

“When everything comes together in the trial I think people will see that Dr Rana thought he was being patriotic in helping out an intelligence service. He thought that what he was doing was right. The trial will show that Dr Rana had no idea of the tragic events that were going to unfold. He was the dupe of others,” said Swift, while emphasising that Rana was terribly anguished at the attacks because his wife’s family still lived in Mumbai and his Chicago business clientele drew both Indians and Pakistanis.

Rana’s lawyers are planning to use statements Headley gave to India’s National Investigation Agency and the FBI to prove their client was duped by Headley who told Indian investigators that top LeT members were handled by ISI officials. One of Headley’s handlers, a Pakistani officer called “Major Iqbal”, who is affiliated to the ISI has recently been indicted in the Chicago criminal case.

Pakistani officials contend there is no Major Iqbal serving in the ISI who has been involved in the Mumbai attacks.

“Three weeks ago Major Iqbal was indicted so that demonstrates the US Department of Justice will pursue a case even if it strains US-Pakistan relations,” said James Kreindler, an attorney in New York, who has filed a pending civil lawsuit against the ISI and the Lashkar seeking unspecified monetary damages on behalf of victims of the Mumbai assault.

Kriendler told Firstpost that he expects the Chicago criminal trial set to begin on Monday with jury selection to strengthen the civil suit in New York.

“When the trial begins with Headley’s testimony more details will come out about the ISI’s role and that is going to strengthen our hand,” said Kriendler. “The facts keep coming out. There is going to be no doubt certainly in the public eye that the ISI played a significant role in the Mumbai attacks.”

In the criminal case, US prosecutors have also charged six others, including five with ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba. All of them are fugitives, leaving Rana the lone defendant to face trial in Chicago for the Mumbai attacks. Sajid Mir, the Mumbai mastermind whose voice was caught on tape directing the three-day mayhem by phone from Pakistan, also has links to the ISI. He remains at large in Pakistan with Major Iqbal and all the other wanted men.

“It is the great irony of this case that the man who might by all accounts, even the government’s, be the absolute least involved is the only one on trial. Dr Rana’s name was used; badly used and misused. David Headley is now a star witness and everyone else is on the run! It is horrible that we made a deal with Headley — it’s disrespectful to the victims’ families in Mumbai. I find it disgusting,” said Swift, who has a Hollywood movie being made about his efforts to secure a fair trial for Osama bin Laden’s driver Salim Hamdan, who was last week sentenced to less than five years in prison instead of 30. George Clooney is almost certain to take the role of Swift.

Prosecutors have declined to comment on what plea bargain has been negotiated with Headley who has pleaded guilty to helping with the Mumbai attacks. It stands to reason that a light US sentencing will come as a kick in the gut for Mumbai, especially those Indians who have lost loved ones and friends in the brutal three-day Mumbai massacre.

New Delhi, meanwhile, has framed a request to gain access to Rana under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. “Right now he is on trial but certainly Dr Rana is willing to help the Indian government in any way that he can. At this point we are in the trial so we will see what happens after that. The truth of the matter though is that I don’t believe there would be much Dr Rana could help the Indian government with,” said Swift.

Trial timeframe

Jury selection is scheduled for the week starting, May 16. The jurors will come in on Monday and fill out an extensive questionnaire; and be up for individual questioning on Tuesday and Wednesday. Lawyers expect the jury to be selected by late-Wednesday or Thursday morning. Opening statements will not take place until next Monday. That will be the first opening in the case and then it will take anywhere from three to six weeks depending on how fast the prosecution works. The case will run through May into June.