The National Investigation Agency (NIA), seeking in a Delhi court non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Jama-ut-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, Lashkar-e-Taiba head of operations Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi and four other Pakistani citizens, said its case was based on a “larger conspiracy” against India.
To District and Sessions Judge S.P. Garg's poser on the need for warrants against Saeed and Lakhvi, against whom a Mumbai trial court hearing the 26/11 terror attack case had issued NBWs in June 2009, NIA counsel Dayan Krishnan said the agency's investigation was “separate” and it had evidence to show that the duo was part of a larger conspiracy against the country and that the 26/11 terror attack was just one part of it.
NIA counsel also briefed the court that the NBW would help the agency approach Interpol for a “United Nations Security Council Interpol Special Notice” against Saeed and Lakhvi besides the Red Corner Notice. This special notice is issued for groups and individuals who are the targets of U.N. sanctions against the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
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The NIA submitted before the court a consolidated list of designated individuals and entities associated with the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which was created through Resolution 1267 of the U.N. Security Council in 1999, against whom sanctions were imposed.
Counsel pointed out to the court that Saeed was serial number 263.08 and Lakhvi was 264.08 in the “consolidated list” and this would enable the NIA to ask Interpol to issue the “Special Notice” against them. Both their names made it to the U.N. list in December 2008.
Mr. Krishnan pleaded that the issuing of an NBW would help to name Saeed and Lakhvi as “proclaimed offenders” under Section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code, in the long run.
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The court will decide on the application on Wednesday.
Last week, the NIA withdrew the NBW applications filed on March 22, 2010, in the same court for David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana after a NIA team physically verified that the duo were in U.S. custody and submitted that non-bailable warrants against the duo were now redundant.
Saeed, Lakhvi and the four others, who include two Pakistani army officers, have been charged under the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the SAARC Convention (Suppression of Terrorism) Act for waging war against the Indian government, conspiracy and procuring arms and ammunition.