Chicago:
David Coleman Headley has identified his ISI handler, the shadowy Major Iqbal, as Chaudhery Khan, the man with whom the Pakistani-American had several email exchanges. Headley wrote to him at the email id chaudherykhan@gmail.com.
On being interrogated about those mail exchanges, Headley told a court in Chicago, where his alleged accomplice Tahawwur Husain Rana's trial is on, that Chaudhery Khan was Major Iqbal, the man Headley had identified yesterday as one of his ISI handlers. Major Iqbal is named as a co-defendant in the indictment.
(Read - ISI helped LeT carry out 26/11 Mumbai attacks: David Headley)Headley has already pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks, and has agreed to testify against Rana to avoid the death penalty.
On day 1 of the trial, he exposed the role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), saying that two ISI Majors - he called them Major Iqbal and Major Samir - were the ISI handlers who coordinated the 26/11 attack.
(Read: Headley's diary lists telephone numbers of ISI handlers)
The more than 20 emails exchanged between Headley and the man he says is Major Iqbal have been submitted as exhibits to the court by the prosecution in the Rana trial. In one of these emails, they discussed how to use Rajaram Rege, who Headley called a PR agent of the Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. Headley has also revealed a plot to kill Bal Thackeray.
(Read: Headley in plot to kill Sena chief Thackeray?)Headley told the court yesterday that he had received weapons and leadership training in Pakistan from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based terror outfit that India accuses of masterminding and executing the Mumbai attacks. "LeT told me I would be going to India to conduct surveillance," he said.
He said in court that it was Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed who "motivated" him by saying, "one second of jihad equals hundred years of prayer".
Headley also told the court that "he disliked India" because he held "India responsible for severing Pakistan" and "bombing his school in 1971". He added that he "wanted to fight against Indian troops in Kashmir" but Lashkar leaders told him they had "a better and more suitable use" for him because he was an American citizen.
(Read: Headley 'disliked India, wanted to fight in Kashmir')According to the testimony, over lunch in 2004 with top leaders like Hafiz Saeed and Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, who Headley referred to as "Zaki sahib" in court, he proposed that Lashkar sue the United States government to challenge the LeT being called a terrorist organization.
He was told that the ISI would have to be consulted first, he said in court. When asked by the prosecution why this was necessary, Headley replied, "They coordinate with each other. With financial and military support."
Headley also told the court that he understood that the LeT and the JeM (Jaish e Mohammed) operated under the ISI and that the two terror groups coordinated with each other. He added that the ISI gave military as well as financial support to the LeT. Headley has already told interrogators that the ISI provided training and funds for the Mumbai attack.
(Read: Headley's emails to Rana, exhibits used in 26/11 case)Headley said LeT commander Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi had told him that 'Major Iqbal' would call him about an operation in India. He also said that Lakhvi spoke to 'Major Iqbal' on major issues.
Indian government sources have told NDTV that Headley's testimony makes the case against ISI stronger and the Pakistani intelligence agency may now be forced to hand over 'Major Iqbal'.
His testimony is also crucial as it vindicates what India has been saying all along - that Hafiz Saeed and Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi were the masterminds of the 26/11 attacks, something that Pakistan has been willfully ignoring.
Cases have been filed against Saeed and Lakhvi in the 26/11 trial that is going on in Pakistan courts, but the two still remain free. They have been seen with Pakistani ministers at rallies in Islamabad. The UN has also blacklisted both Saeed and Lakhvi. The two appear on America's terror list as well.
Headley Mail to Chaudhery Khan