Not sure whether Ishrat was terrorist: GK Pillai

The NIA report, prepared after interrogation of Mumbai terror attack accused David Headley, has no mention about Ishrat Jahan who was killed in an encounter in Gujarat, former Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said on Tuesday.

New Delhi: The NIA report, prepared after interrogation of Mumbai terror attack accused David Headley, has no mention about Ishrat Jahan who was killed in an encounter in Gujarat, former Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said on Tuesday.

He, however, said the persons, who were accompanying Ishrat, were terrorists and two of them were Pakistanis trained in camps of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"Her name was not mentioned in the NIA report submitted to me," Pillai told reporters.
After interrogating Headley in the US, the National Investigation Agency submitted its report to the Home Ministry when Pillai was in the office between June 2009 and June 2011.

Asked about her alleged links with LeT, Pillai said there were intelligence reports of her being in touch with the terrorists but he was not sure whether she was innocent or a cover used by the three terrorists who were killed along with her in Ahmedabad nine years ago.

"There were intelligence inputs about her links with the LeT," he said.
Pillai, who had a distinguished record as a bureaucrat, said Ishrat`s name was mentioned as a martyr on LeT`s website but it was later removed.

"One has to keep all these things in mind while passing any judgement. It was very complex," he said.

PTI

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