New Delhi: India-Pakistan tensions are likely to be inflamed by a trial slated to begin in the United States next month as terrorists accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks prepare to say they believed themselves to be working for Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, according to a report in the daily Globe and Mail.
On May 16 in Chicago, Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana is to go on trial for allegedly providing terrorist scouts with the false credentials they used to pick targets in Mumbai, according to a report in the Canadian daily on Tuesday that quoted new court documents.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in Illinois arrested Rana and his long-time friend David Coleman Headley - and accused the two Pakistani expatriates in their 50s of doing surveillance on behalf of a terrorist group.
Pakistani gunmen stormed luxury hotels, train stations and a Jewish centre, killing more than 160 civilians in one of India's worst terror attacks ever.
The rampage threatened India’s bilateral ties with Pakistan - until Islamabad, backed by US intelligence officials - rushed to assure India that the attacks were not state-sponsored.
The new Globe and Mail report threatens to undermine the progress in India-Pakistan relations achieved after Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani arrived in India to watch the India-Sri Lanka cricket World Cup final.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, or LeT, is blamed for the Mumbai massacre, though Indian officials suspect the terrorists did not operate alone.
Rana's trial threatens to lend an aura of credence to the suspicions of ISI complicity. According to court documents, the jury will hear the two Chicago conspirators say they believed themselves to be working for both LeT and the ISI, the paper reported.
Previously secret testimony heard only by a grand jury is referred to in a decision published earlier this month.
"I also told him (Rana) … how I had been asked to perform espionage work for ISI," Headley, a Pakistani-American, testified to the grand jury.
Though cryptic, the statement is highly significant.
Having turned FBI informer in a bid to escape the death penalty, Headley will reveal the blow-by-blow of the Mumbai massacre surveillance scheme when he gives evidence against Rana, the Globe and Mail reported.
That testimony should include the specifics on how Headley anglicized his Pakistani name, cultivated ties with LeT, videotaped sites in Mumbai, and briefed his handlers in Pakistan in the run-up to the carnage.
Speaking about how he entered India under a "false flag" to scout out targets, Headley told the grand jury that "I told (Rana) about my assignment to conduct surveillance in Mumbai. … I explained to him that the immigration office would provide a cover story for why I was in Mumbai."
Though Rana is a Canadian citizen, for years he has been the proprietor of First World Immigration Services, a consultancy based in a South Asian enclave of Chicago.
Rana has been struggling to explain away allegations that he gave Headley the papers that allowed him to pose as an immigration consultant. According to recent filings, Rana argues he is a Pakistani patriot who was led to believe the ISI wanted his help - and therefore he should get the equivalent of diplomatic immunity.
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