Ishrat Jahan was innocent, claims family

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Ishrat Jahan`s family once again on Saturday claimed innocence for her while addressing a press conference here. Speaking at the Constitution Club, Ishrat`s sister said she was intelligent and was so busy with her studies that she had little time for other things. "Ishrat was a science student and intelligent. She used to remain busy with studies all the time," her sister said. "She added that Ishrat used to teach underprivileged children and also hold private tuitions in the evening every day after her classes. She again used to study after tuitions. When she didn’t have time for herself, how could she be involved in such (terror) activities," her sister asked. "She was somebody who used to be scared of cockroaches and lizards. How could she be a terrorist and kill people," her sister asked. "Every channel has been asking whether she was a terrorist or not. A girl who was taking care of the entire family... whose father had died long back, how can she be a terrorist," the sister said. The press conference, which was briefly disrupted by right-wing activists belonging to the Swabhimaan Party, came after it emerged that a letter by the Intelligence Bureau to the Home Ministry in June in connection with the case had alleged that the US` FBI had mentioned in 2009 that Ishrat Jahan could be a suicide bomber. According to reports, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in 2009, on the basis of their interrogation of Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Headley, had sent a letter to the Indian government, informing that Ishrat Jahan was recruited by Muzammil, a terror operative. The FBI report, which has been shared by the Intelligence Bureau, has claimed that LeT operative Zaki-ur-Rehman had told Headley about the induction of Ishrat in the terror module. However, notably, the NIA’s interrogation of Headley does not mention anything about the 19-year-old, who was killed in an encounter in Gujarat. The CBI, in a chargesheet filed in an Ahmedabad court earlier this week, had said that the Ishrat Jahan encounter in 2004 was staged and fake.