The Tribune – Malik blames Indian, Pakistan agencies for failing to prevent 26/11 attacks

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 16. Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik today said the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks happened because both India and Pakistan were not interacting and sharing information with each other.

“We failed to prevent 26/11 because we were not talking to each other,” said Malik while delivering a lecture at the Observor Research Foundation during the last day of his visit.

Malik said Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley was a triple agent. “A US passport holder, Headley conspired with Al-Qaida terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri, a retired major of Pakistan Army and three Indian terrorists – Abu Jundal, Jabbiullah and Fahim Ansari – and plotted India’s worst terror attack,” he said.

Malik said Jundal, arrested in Saudi Arabia and deported to India, has confessed to have met Headley, who, in turn, was in touch with Kashmiri.

“So it is not a state-sponsored drama, a state-sponsored action. It is an action by non-state actors. Triangular nexus between Headley, (Ilyas) Kashmiri, the enemy of Pakistan, a Major who deserted the Pakistan Army, having joined LeT and of course the three Indians,” he said.

“Headley was interacting with Indian and Pakistani non-state actors to coordinate the attacks. But for whom he was coordinating? Who was the third party,” questioned Malik. Headley, Malik said, was once arrested by the drug enforcement agency (DEA) of the US. “But how he managed to operate freely is a mystery. He came from the US. He had money and credit cards. He moved all over and even managed to create a social circle,” said Malik.

“All this should have come to the attention of some agencies. But the agencies failed, both here and Pakistan. We failed because we were not interacting,” he said.

Referring to Jundal, who was present in LeT control room during 26/11 attack, Malik said: “He was a known criminal, having been charged in many cases. He also worked as one of the sources of a very elite agency of India. Now, see, he has used agencies also and went rogue. Put it another way, you become a source, you become a double agent.

While he is working, living in India, he might have gone rogue and then went to Pakistan.”

On Ilyas Kashmiri, Malik said, he was a part of the conspiracy to kill former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto. On Hafiz Saeed, one of the suspects in the Mumbai attacks, Malik said: “The determination of Pakistan is very much there to arrest him but with evidence.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121217/main2.htm

The Tribune – Home Secretary-level talks begin today; India, Pakistan set to sign liberal visa agreement

Ajay Banerjee, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23. Even as New Delhi pushes for punishing the Pakistan-based perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, the two nations are set to sign a path-breaking visa agreement that will in many ways increase much-needed people-to-people contact.

Union Home Secretary R K Singh today left for Islamabad for a two-day meeting (May 24-25) with his Pakistani counterpart Interior Secretary Khawaja Siddique Akbar. The two will sign a new visa regime and also discuss terrorism, a matter that has seen much public debate in India as it pushes for punishing Jamaat-Ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and blames him for the Mumbai attacks that left 166 dead.

The new visa regime will, for the first time, pave the way for group tourist visas. These could be a boon for Indians, especially Punjabis, who migrated to this side of the Radcliffe Line following Partition and are keen to visit the birthplace of their forefathers.

The regime will also be a blessing for pilgrims on both sides. For Sikhs, “hurdle-free darshan of Nankana Sahib” is part of the ‘ardaas’ in gurdwaras. The visa will be a major facilitator for businessmen, who have in the past six months been encouraged with the response at exhibitions in Lahore and New Delhi.

Detailing the new visa regime, Home Ministry spokesperson Ira Joshi said, “The revised agreement inter-alia introduces the concept of group tourist visa, visa on arrival and a separate category of business visas.” Minute details of the visa and the safeguards on both sides will be addressed by the respective intelligence agencies.

IB Director Nehchal Sandhu is also part of the delegation along with National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director General SC Sinha. The NIA is the prosecuting agency in the Mumbai attacks case.

The last round of Home Secretary/Interior Secretary talks were held in New Delhi in March 2011. The joint statement had identified cooperation in the area of counter-terrorism, progress in bringing the fugitives of the Mumbai terror attacks case to justice and a revised bilateral visa agreement as some of the priorities.

The broad agenda of talks will include terrorism, fugitives from Indian law, narcotics and humanitarian issues such as the release of Indian fishermen and civilians languishing in jails in Pakistan.

The two-day dialogue comes soon after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s April 8 visit. During their meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had stressed the need for Pakistan to take firm action to curb terrorism for positive forward movement in the bilateral relationship. The PM had told Zardari to bring perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to justice and prevent anti-India activities from Pakistani soil.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120524/main5.htm