[Reader-list] Ishrat Jahan was an LeT fidayeen: Headley

[Pawan Durani]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Ishrat-Jahan-was-an-LeT-fidayeen-Headley/articleshow/6129125.cms

NEW DELHI: Pakistani American terrorist David Headley has said that Ishrat
Jahan, the Mumbai girl who was killed along with three alleged terrorists in
2004 in a police encounter, was indeed a Lashkar-e-Taiba fidayeen.

Sources said Headley told interrogators from the National Investigation
Agency that Ishrat, a resident of Mumbra in Thane, was recruited by top
Lashkar commander Muzammil who was in-charge of LeT's operations in India
till 2007.

The statement, while confirming that Headley is a trove of information on
Lashkar's plans against India, corroborates the version of Gujarat police as
well as the Centre in what has turned into a controversial case because of
doubts about the veracity of the police version.

Importantly, Headley's statement tallies with claim of Gujarat cops and the
Centre that Muzammil had sent Ishrat and her accomplices to Gujarat on a
terror mission as part of Lashkar's plan to attack the Indian hinterland and
target VIPs.

Headley's visits to India for reconaissance missions for Lashkar started in
2006, sources said, when Muzammil was Lashkar's chief commander in India.

Lashkar had owned up Ishrat immediately after the encounter, with its
Lahore-based mouthpiece 'Ghazwa Times' describing her as an LeT activist and
taking umbrage at the action of Indian cops in removing her veil. In 2007,
however, Lashkar, in its fresh incarnation as Jamaat-ud-Dawa, disowned her,
by issuing an apology to Ishrat's family for calling her an LeT cadre.

The timing of the apology was significant. It came just before Gopinath
Pillai, father of Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai who was killed along
with Ishrat, filed a petition in the Supreme Court, demanding a CBI probe
into the encounter.

Headley's statement that Ishrat was recruited to be a fidayeen undercuts
Lashkar's attempt to disown her, though it may not settle doubts about the
genuineness of the encounter in which she was killed.

Ishrat and Javed were killed along with two Pakistani nationals -- Amjad Ali
and Jishan Johar Abdul Ghani -- both alleged LeT terrorists, on June 15,
2004. According to the police version, they were intercepted on the
outskirts of Ahmedabad when they were about to enter the city in a blue
Indica on a mission to eliminate chief minister Narendra Modi.

In her petition to the Gujarat High Court, Ishrat's mother Shamima Kausar
had disputed the version of the Gujarat police as well as the Centre,
claiming that her daughter was a saleswoman working for Javed Sheikh who
dealt in perfumes. Javed's father told the SC that his son was innocent and
sought a central probe.

Both Gujarat police and Centre pointed to infirmities in their version.
Centre told Gujarat HC that Javed had been recruited by LeT when he was in
Dubai. Gopinath Pillai had not disclosed criminal cases pending against his
son, or the fact that he had obtained a different passport using his
original name even though the one issued to him was still valid.

The Centre also disputed the claim of Gopinath Pillai, supported by Ishrat's
mother, that he was in the business of perfumes and that this required him
and Ishrat to travel across the country.

The Gujarat HC had set Monday as the deadline for all parties concerned to
submit their replies to the petitions from the parents of Ishrat and Javed,
seeking a CBI probe into the alleged encounter.

The case has taken on significance after a CBI probe established that
Sohrabuddin, an alleged gangster, was killed by Gujarat cops in a fake
encounter. It has also established that Tulsidas Prajapati, a small-time
criminal who helped Gujarat cops nab Sohrabuddin, was also eliminated by the
police to wipe out evidence.

Headley's account underlines his importance as a repository of crucial
information on Lashkar and its plans on India. His statement to the NIA team
that LeT founder Hafiz Saeed was engaged with the 26/11 attackers all
through the plot has reinforced India's demand that Pakistan take action
against the Lashkar chief. Sources described the information given by the
Pakistani American terrorist as "vital inputs"