The National Investigation Agency (NIA) team that travelled to the United States from New Delhi to interrogate Mumbai terror attacks suspect David Coleman Headley was provided with seven days of access to him between June 3 and June 10, authorities confirmed on Thursday evening. According to an official statement from the Indian embassy here, the team was returning to India after a “useful” visit.
Sources on both the U.S. and Indian sides confirmed that access to Mr. Headley had been provided. In particular, the U.S. Department of Justice said, “Indian law enforcement officials were provided direct access to interview David Coleman Headley.”
The DoJ statement explained that Mr. Headley and his counsel, John Theis, had agreed to the meetings with Indian officials, and Mr. Headley “answered Indian investigators’ questions over the course of seven days of interviews”.
It further noted that there had been “no restrictions on the questions posed by Indian investigators [yet] to protect the confidentiality of the investigations being conducted by both India and the United States; both countries have agreed not to disclose the contents of the interviews”.
India’s Ambassador Meera Shankar said that following discussions with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, a team from the NIA had visited the U.S. to question Mr. Headley. She added that the visit took place “over several days, beginning from June 3, 2010, and the team is now returning to India on the conclusion of a useful visit.”
Ms. Shankar further said that India attached importance to “investigating the full dimension of this heinous act of terrorist violence [and] the support and cooperation extended by the U.S. authorities is appreciated and is in keeping with the commitment of the two countries to strengthen their cooperation in meeting the challenge of terrorism."
In a parallel statement U.S. Ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer also confirmed from Washington that “a team of Government of India investigators had been granted direct access to David Headley, and had conducted a series of interviews with him related to terrorist activities in India”. He also noted that the team had arrived in the U.S. on May 31.
Access removes irritant
Speaking to The Hindu , Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, said, “Providing Indian investigators direct access to David Headley removes an irritant from the U.S-India bilateral relationship that had threatened to disrupt future counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries. Now that India has been given what appears to have been unfettered access to Headley, Indian suspicions that the U.S. might be covering up something in the investigation should now be put to rest.”
Ms. Curtis touched upon the nature of the legal process in the U.S. saying that because it was compartmentalised from other arms of the U.S. government it was “entirely possible that those officials responsible for U.S. policy toward Pakistan at the State Department and Department of Defense as well as U.S. Congressional Members are not fully aware of the information coming from the Headley investigations”.
She noted that therefore, as additional details from the Headley investigation surfaced, these government authorities “will begin to factor into U.S. policymaking toward Pakistan in ways that give higher priority to ensuring Islamabad cracks down on groups that have traditionally focused on attacking India but now threaten the international community more broadly”.
ISI role
Further, in comments to The Hindu, Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, said, “The central question about Headley that was missing from his otherwise extensive guilty plea was the role of the Inter-Services Intelligence [the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI].”
Mr. Riedel noted, “That question must still be addressed and the Indian detectives certainly pressed him on this. If there is an ISI hand and Headley confirms it, then that must raise profound questions about America's connections with the ISI in general and Generals Kayani and Pasha in particular.” He added that Americans had been killed in the Mumbai attacks.
Commenting on the implications of such developments for Pakistan, Ms. Curtis said, “If reports that Headley was directed by serving Pakistan Army or ISI officials gain steam, that will put enormous pressure on Pakistan to demonstrate it is putting the terrorist group out of business.” She added that otherwise, Pakistan would find itself increasingly isolated by the international community.
