Friday, June 11, 2010
Indian authorities’ 7-day access to Headley "useful"
From The Hindu
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) team that travelled to the United States from New Delhi to interrogate Mumbai terror attacks suspect David Coleman Headley was provided with seven days of access to him between June 3 and June 10, authorities confirmed on Thursday evening. According to an official statement from the Indian embassy here, the team was returning to India after a “useful” visit.
Sources on both the U.S. and Indian sides confirmed that access to Mr. Headley had been provided. In particular, the U.S. Department of Justice said, “Indian law enforcement officials were provided direct access to interview David Coleman Headley.”
The DoJ statement explained that Mr. Headley and his counsel, John Theis, had agreed to the meetings with Indian officials, and Mr. Headley “answered Indian investigators’ questions over the course of seven days of interviews”.
It further noted that there had been “no restrictions on the questions posed by Indian investigators [yet] to protect the confidentiality of the investigations being conducted by both India and the United States; both countries have agreed not to disclose the contents of the interviews”.
India’s Ambassador Meera Shankar said that following discussions with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, a team from the NIA had visited the U.S. to question Mr. Headley. She added that the visit took place “over several days, beginning from June 3, 2010, and the team is now returning to India on the conclusion of a useful visit.”
Ms. Shankar further said that India attached importance to “investigating the full dimension of this heinous act of terrorist violence [and] the support and cooperation extended by the U.S. authorities is appreciated and is in keeping with the commitment of the two countries to strengthen their cooperation in meeting the challenge of terrorism."
In a parallel statement U.S. Ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer also confirmed from Washington that “a team of Government of India investigators had been granted direct access to David Headley, and had conducted a series of interviews with him related to terrorist activities in India”. He also noted that the team had arrived in the U.S. on May 31.
Access removes irritant
Speaking to The Hindu, Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, said, “Providing Indian investigators direct access to David Headley removes an irritant from the U.S-India bilateral relationship that had threatened to disrupt future counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries. Now that India has been given what appears to have been unfettered access to Headley, Indian suspicions that the U.S. might be covering up something in the investigation should now be put to rest.”
Ms. Curtis touched upon the nature of the legal process in the U.S. saying that because it was compartmentalised from other arms of the U.S. government it was “entirely possible that those officials responsible for U.S. policy toward Pakistan at the State Department and Department of Defense as well as U.S. Congressional Members are not fully aware of the information coming from the Headley investigations”.
She noted that therefore as additional details from the Headley investigation surfaced, these government authorities “will begin to factor into U.S. policymaking toward Pakistan in ways that give higher priority to ensuring Islamabad cracks down on groups that have traditionally focused on attacking India but now threaten the international community more broadly”.
ISI role
Further, in comments to The Hindu, Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, said, “The central question about Headley that was missing from his otherwise extensive guilty plea was the role of the Inter-Services Intelligence [the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI].”
Mr. Riedel noted, “That question must still be addressed and the Indian detectives certainly pressed him on this. If there is an ISI hand and Headley confirms it, then that must raise profound questions about America's connections with the ISI in general and Generals Kayani and Pasha in particular.” He added that Americans had been killed in the Mumbai attacks.
Commenting on the implications of such developments for Pakistan, Ms. Curtis said, “If reports that Headley was directed by serving Pakistan Army or ISI officials gain steam, that will put enormous pressure on Pakistan to demonstrate it is putting the terrorist group out of business.” She added that otherwise, Pakistan would find itself increasingly isolated by the international community.
Labels: Headley access issue, India-U.S ties, National Investigation Agency, NIA
Monday, April 12, 2010
Details of India’s access to Headley ‘not yet worked out’
From The Hindu
Even as pressure on the United States to provide Indian authorities with access to David Coleman Headley, accused in the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, steadily rose, his attorney John Theis said, “specific details of the Indian authorities' meetings with or interrogation of Mr. Headley have not yet been worked out.”
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Theis, however, said on Monday that the plea agreement that Mr. Headley had struck with the DoJ “does anticipate Mr. Headley's cooperation with U.S. and Indian authorities.”
Mr. Theis referred to the text of the plea agreement which explicitly states that “if he [Headley] should breach this cooperation agreement and if the government, at its sole discretion, voids such agreement, the government will no longer be bound by its decision not to seek the death penalty.” The DoJ waived the death penalty for Headley on condition of his continued cooperation.
The plea agreement further noted that Headley had, however, been cooperating with the government since the time of his arrest on October 3, 2009, and to date had provided “substantial assistance to the criminal investigation, and also has provided information of significant intelligence value.”
Earlier a spokesman at the Chicago division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had said to The Hindu that the question of providing Indian authorities with access to Headley was “down to logistics.”
He added that if Headley did not cooperate, it would be a violation of his plea agreement and his case would then go back to the courts for further review.
On Monday Mr. Theis, however, said that when details for the interaction between Indian authorities and Mr. Headley were finalised, they would be shared with the public. This runs contrary to an earlier statement by the FBI to The Hindu according to which such details would not be announced to the public in any case, due to security concerns.
Mr. Theis, the FBI and the DoJ refused to provide further comments on the current progress with providing India with access to Headley.
Even as pressure on the United States to provide Indian authorities with access to David Coleman Headley, accused in the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, steadily rose, his attorney John Theis said, “specific details of the Indian authorities' meetings with or interrogation of Mr. Headley have not yet been worked out.”
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Theis, however, said on Monday that the plea agreement that Mr. Headley had struck with the DoJ “does anticipate Mr. Headley's cooperation with U.S. and Indian authorities.”
Mr. Theis referred to the text of the plea agreement which explicitly states that “if he [Headley] should breach this cooperation agreement and if the government, at its sole discretion, voids such agreement, the government will no longer be bound by its decision not to seek the death penalty.” The DoJ waived the death penalty for Headley on condition of his continued cooperation.
The plea agreement further noted that Headley had, however, been cooperating with the government since the time of his arrest on October 3, 2009, and to date had provided “substantial assistance to the criminal investigation, and also has provided information of significant intelligence value.”
Earlier a spokesman at the Chicago division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had said to The Hindu that the question of providing Indian authorities with access to Headley was “down to logistics.”
He added that if Headley did not cooperate, it would be a violation of his plea agreement and his case would then go back to the courts for further review.
On Monday Mr. Theis, however, said that when details for the interaction between Indian authorities and Mr. Headley were finalised, they would be shared with the public. This runs contrary to an earlier statement by the FBI to The Hindu according to which such details would not be announced to the public in any case, due to security concerns.
Mr. Theis, the FBI and the DoJ refused to provide further comments on the current progress with providing India with access to Headley.
Labels: Headley access issue, Mumbai terror attack
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