David Headley says Ishrat Jahan was ‘LeT operative’

Girl’s family sees conspiracy, lawyer raises red flag on prosecutor’s tactics

Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terrorist David Coleman Headley told a special court here via video link from the US that Ishrat Jahan, killed in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, was a LeT operative and possibly a “suicide bomber”. Headley picked up the name of the 19-year-old girl from three names when questioned by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a “botched-up operation” that was mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. He also confirmed that LeT targeted the Akshardham temple over the Babri Masjid demolition.

At the end of his testimony, when his statement (recorded by the court) was read out to him so corrections could be made if there was any misunderstanding, Headley told the special judge he wanted to clarify that Ishrat Jahan was an Indian. “Zaki Saab (Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi) mentioned some police shootout at some area in India and later Muzammil Butt explained it to me,” said Headley, while replying to a question by Nikam. Headley also elaborated that “some female” was killed in that operation in Gujarat.

Prodded by Mr Nikam for details about the “botched-up” operation, Headley said: “I don’t know which part in India. But there was one female who was killed in the shootout. I think she was an Indian national and not a Pakistani, but (she) was a LeT operative.”

He informed the court Muzammil was the person who joined the LeT at a young age and had visited “Indian-occupied Kashmir” (J&K) with Abu Juzar to fight against Indian troops. Muzammil later became the head of LeT.

“I will give you three names and you identify from them who that lady was,” said Mr Nikam, reading out three names: Noor Jehan, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaz Begum. Headley then responded: “It was the second one, Ishrat Jahan.”

Mr Nikam also asked Headley about the women’s wing of LeT and if he knew the names of any “female suicide bomber”. However, Headley replied he was not aware of any female suicide bomber but he only knew the mother of Abu Aima, LeT member, was head of the women’s wing, but he could not recall her name.

When Mr Nikam asked if Headley knew of Akshardham temple and Somnath temple, he replied in the affirmative. Asked further what had happened at these temples when he was in LeT, he replied he had heard from LeT people that Muzammil had planned an attack on Akshardham but was not aware of anything regarding the Somnath temple. Later he explained he had asked Muzammil about this and was told that “Indians have demolished the Babri Masjid and hence it was all right for us to attack the Akshardham temple, and that is why we planned to attack it”.

Asked if he knew anything on LeT leader Abu Kahafa’s nephew, Headley said the nephew was one of the 10 26/11 attackers and had died during the operation. Talking about the Akshardham attack, he also said Lahore-based businessman Haji Ashraf’s nephew also died during the Akshardham attack. Ashraf was head of the finance wing of LeT.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Nikam said he had named in the court three “women suicide bombers” of LeT for Headley to pick. “When he heard the three, he said he had heard the name of Ishrat Jahan, and that she was killed in a police encounter.” Mr Nikam’s claim was questioned by the Ishrat Jahan family’s lawyer, Ms Vrinda Grover, who said Headley in his testimony had said he had only heard about a “botched-up” operation and that he didn’t know of any female sucide bomber. Asserting that Ishrat had no terror links, Ms Grover said Headley’s later statement that he had heard the name of Ishrat Jahan after Mr Nikam gave a “multiple-choice question” could not be treated as evidence.

“It is not evidence. It is all a mockery, pointing to a conspiracy. There may be politics,” said Ms Grover, who added that certain questions had been put to Headley by the prosecutor that had nothing to do with the 26/11 case, and alleged they could have “political relevance”.

Ishrat’s family members also questioned the veracity of Headley’s claims. “Attempts were made to link Ishrat’s name with terror from Headley’s testimony,” her uncle Rauf Lala said.

Four persons — Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Joha — were killed in an encounter with the police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The Ahmedabad crime branch had then claimed those killed in the encounter were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then chief minister Narendra Modi.

Ishrat’s sister Musarrat also expressed surprise over the claim by Headley, saying investigations had proved she was killed in a “fake encounter”. She said in Mumbai: “It has been proved in the investigations that it was a fake encounter. We are not saying this, it has been proved by Indian investigators that my sister Ishrat was innocent. She was killed.”

Musarrat then added: “Many big people are involved in it. Headley is saying all this (as) they will benefit politically out of it. I don’t understand that despite investigations, which proved she was innocent, why the judgment in the case is taking so long. He himself (Headley) is a terrorist, and is in jail in the US. How does his statement count ”