Emerging evidence that Pakistani-American jihadist David Headley and his Lahore-based handler Sajid Mir helped organise last year’s carnage in Mumbai has cast serious doubt on the integrity of Islamabad’s investigation of the attack.
In February this year, Pakistan’s Federal Investigations agency held three key Lashkar operatives who it said were the key architects of the Mumbai strike. Lashkar military commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, his deputy Mazhar Iqbal, long known in India by the alias Abu al-Qama, and Abdul Wajid, who the FIA says used the code-name Zarar Shah, are now facing trial on charges of “planning, preparation, [and] execution of [the] Mumbai terrorist attacks.” But despite holding the three key Lashkar commanders in its custody, the FIA cast no light on the Headley-Mir reconnaissance operation.
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The failure, Indian investigators allege, is part of a pattern of less-than-transparent conduct. For example, the FIA has failed to conduct forensic tests which would establish whether Wajid is in fact among the men who guided the assault through calls through a voice-over-Internet phone service.
Nor has it responded to requests for photographs of Wajid, which would allow Indian investigators to corroborate the Lashkar commander’s identity by interviewing jailed jihadists who have met him. FIA detectives also appear to have left gaps in the evidence linking low-level operatives with top commanders.
In a dossier submitted to India this summer, the FIA said Lashkar office-bearers transferred funds “for terrorist activities and operations in Mumbai.” But the dossier is silent on who they were. None of those involved in training the Lashkar assault team has been identified. Key among them is Muzammil Bhat, who allegedly supervised the assault team’s training and remained in constant communication with them through the attack.
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Pakistan claims Bhat — also known by the names Yusuf and Mohammad Muzammil — evaded a December 2008 raid on a Lashkar camp in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Earlier this month, though, Canadian journalists Adnan Khan and Michael Petrou reported that they had sighted the Lashkar commander after successfully infiltrating a new Lashkar base at Dulai.
Finally, Pakistan’s investigators have also succeeded in identifying just two members of the assault team itself: Amir’s partner, Imran Babar and Vehari district resident Mohammad Altaf.