Mumbai: Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terrorist Dawood Salim Gilani alias David Coleman Headley on Monday testified before a Mumbai special court through video conferencing as an approver, and for the first time revealed the direct involvement of Pakistan’s ISI in the 26/11 terror attacks.
He illustrated how LeT had planned the 26/11 attacks and executed it after two failed attempts, in September and October 2008, giving details of the ISI’s role and naming three of its officers. He also spoke about the role of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler Sajid Mir.
He acknowledged he joined LeT due to Saeed’s influence. Headley told the court his real name was Dawood Salim Gilani and he changed his name to David Coleman Headley solely to gain entry into India as an American citizen so that he could gather information for LeT.
“I was motivated to join LeT after hearing Hafiz Saeed Saab’s speech,” said Headley, adding Saeed was LeT’s head. He even identified a photograph of Saeed.
Read: 26/11 terror attacks: India to give Pakistan Headley dossier
He told the court he met an ISI officer, Maj. Sajid Mir for the first time when he was arrested at the Afghan border. Headley said he had gone to the Landi Kotal area along with retired Pakistani major Abdul Rehman Pasha to meet a drug dealer, Zaid Shah, in an attempt to explore if the drug dealer could help smuggle weapons to India.
Coleman Headley has informed special judge G.A. Sanap that the group of men who attacked Mumbai in 2008 had failed twice. He told the court that in the first attempt, the boat that was carrying the terrorists hit a rock and sank with all the weapons and explosives the men were carrying. The attackers, however, had their life jackets on and made it back to the shore.
“A second attempt was made around a month later, but it failed too,” said Headley. According to him it was the third attempt that was a success.
Read: From Daood Gilani to David Coleman Headley: A timeline
As an approver, Headley has been providing the details of those involved in the 26/11 terror attacks. However, in order to ensure he does not misguide India during his testimony, there is a clause in his plea agreement with the US that if he does not testify completely and truthfully, the US government is entitled to seek his death penalty for his role in the case. The prosecution in the trial reminded him of the same when he appeared on Monday via video conferencing.
Read: Was inspired by Hafiz Sayeed's speeches, reveals David Headley
Before asking any question, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had reminded Headley about this clause in his plea agreement. However, in spite of this, the prosecution had to remind Headley about it repeatedly when he did not answer a few questions properly. The judge, however, said Headley might require some help to refresh his memory and hence he was allowed to read his evidence given before the United States’ court.
Among the questions that Headley did not answer properly were those related to his marriage. When advocate Nikam asked him how many wives he had, he replied one.
Headley got married to Shaziya in 1999. But later, when Mr Nikam asked him if he knew Porsha Peters, he said, “Yes, I was also married to her.” When he was confronted with another name — Faiza Gilani, who was also known as Faizana Christiana — he said that she was his third wife, and she was a doctor and a citizen of Morocco.
In another instance, the prosecution questioned him as to the number of e-mail IDs he was using at that time. He replied, “Not too many.” But, he was using multiple e-mail addresses. And when Mr Nikam read out the names of five to six e-mail IDs, he replied that all of those belonged to him.
The court will continue recording evidence in the case on Tuesday.
