Admitting to his links with both the LeT and the ISI, Headley described Hafiz Saeed as LeT’s “spiritual leader”, while Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was its “operational commander” and both worked with the sole aim of unleashing terror in India.
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He said that he joined that mission after listing hafiz Saeed he got big influence of his lecture and than he also wanted to join Lashkar-e-taiba.
Nailing the role of Pakistan’s ISI in the 26/11 attacks, Headley said he was tasked to recruit men in the Indian Army to gather inside information.
According to Nikam, Headley told the court on Tuesday that he had surveyed various locations in Mumbai, including Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and Oberoi hotel.
Deposing before a Mumbai court in connection with 26/11 Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives and left scores of people injured, Headley Headley, notably, named Major Ali and Major Iqbal of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Lashkar commander Sajid Mir as his contacts in Pakistan.
“His deposition is significant, but I don’t think he will be able to tell anything new”. He repeated the same confessional statement before Indian court as well during a hearing through video conference.
“The LeT group as a whole was responsible for the terror attacks in India”, said the Pak-American terrorist. “David Headley said that ISI provides financial, moral as well as military support to Lashkar”, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters after Headley’s deposition.
“In this meeting, a colonel from the Pakistan Army was also present, ” he said. “Firstly, he disclosed his close association with the ISI and said that he was working for them also”.
Asked who was Portia Peters, Headley said, “I was also married to her”, and later about Faiza, he added: “She was my third wife, I married her in 2007”.
Official sources in India’s Home Ministry told bdnews24.com that Headley’s testimonies would certainly help India in preparing another fresh dossier to nail 26/11 masterminds.
“In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai”, said Headley, who is serving a 35-year prison term in the USA for his role in the attack.
“This is for the first time in the Indian legal history that a foreign terrorist will appear before an Indian court and testify”.
The 55 year old Headley admitted that his handler Sajid Mir, instructed him to travel to the United States of America in 2006 and change his name from Dawood Gilani to David Headley, to enter India and set up a business.
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Headley’s deposition will resume on February 9, Nikam said.
