Zeenews Bureau
Chicago: A former high ranking official of the Pakistan Army has been arrested by authorities in his country for having links with alleged LeT activists David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana in custody of the US’ FBI on charges of plotting terrorist attacks in India.
The New York Times has reported that a colonel or brigadier general rank Pakistani Army officer has been reportedly named a co-conspirator of the Headley and Rana by the FBI. The daily goes on to say that the American agencies have long suspected such a nexus but this would be the first case that the link is clear.
The official, who recently retired, was arrested earlier in Pakistan on unknown charges but was let-off after ‘pressure’ on the government from his colleagues. Pakistan embassy refused comment, saying the matter was sub-judice.
The officer is among 5 other Pak Army members who have beeb=n detained or arrested in the case.
The paper quoted an official, who has been briefed on
the investigation, as saying that those arrested remain in
custody, but it was unclear what role they played in the
expanding plot.
Earlier, Indian investigation into the the duo’s purported role in last year’s dastardly Mumbai attacks had revealed that Rana was in touch with the Pakistan Army officials on email. It is noteworthy that both are supposed to be products of an Army training school in the town of Hasan Abdal in Pakistan's Punjab province and Rana’a brothers are in the Army.
The duo may also be reporting to Ilyas Kashmiri, a militant associated with Al Qaeda and LeT, who is a former Pakistanuy Army officer.
The American intelligence officials believe that some
Pakistani military and intelligence officials even encourage
terrorists to attack what they see as Pakistan's enemies,
including targets in India, it said.
American officials said the case involving Headley and
Rana reflected a new and evolving pattern of individual
militants with different backgrounds and experience, rather
than terrorist groups, teaming up to plot and carry out
attacks, the paper said.
"It's moving beyond the mainline activities of individual
groups to elements of various militant groups or terrorist
organisations that have spent time together, have fought
together, may be trained together, that now have associations
with certain facilitators that now come together to plan and
execute attacks," it quoted a Defence Department official as
saying.
"The present and future is less about individual groups
conducting attacks, and more about combinations of
individuals, and groups and facilitators that come together,"
said the official.
Meanwhile the bail hearing of Rana scheduled at a court here on Wednesday has been postponed till December 2.
Rana's detention hearing before Magistrate Judge Nan R Nolan has been moved to December 2 at the joint request of the parties, a court official said. Rana's hearing was initially scheduled for November 10 and had been postponed to November 19.
A Pakistan-born Canadian citizen, Rana, along with David Coleman Headley, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation last month on charges of plotting terrorist attacks in India and Denmark.
The officials, who asked not to be identified because
they were discussing a continuing inquiry, said that the FBI
investigation has widened further in part because of the
wealth of information supplied by Headley, the paper said.
Headley and Rana are residents of the city, with Rana running an immigration consultancy agency in Devon here. Federal prosecutors have time till January 14 to file an indictment case against Rana.
A Canadian national, Rana had made several trips to India in the past several years along with his school-time friend Headley, who has also been arrested on same charges.
India’s Home Minister P Chidambaram had said on November 7 that there was a link between Pakistan and the two terror suspects caught in the US.
"There is an obvious Pakistan link. (David Coleman) Headley visited Pakistan a number of times and I think on the advice of the FBI, two or perhaps more people have been arrested in Pakistan," he had said.
First Published: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 23:58