Pakistan has distanced itself from Tahawwur Rana – a Pakistani-Canadian terrorist wanted by India for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in which 166 people were slaughtered.
Tahawwur Rana is being extradited from the US; his extradition flight is due in Delhi late Thursday.
Media reports quote Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan as saying Rana had made no attempt to renew lapsed citizenship details – i.e., Pakistan does not allow dual citizenship for migrants to Canada – and that it is now “very clear” he is a Canadian national.
“Tahawwur Rana has not renewed his Pakistani documents for over two decades. His Canadian nationality is very clear,” Mr Khan said as the Palam Air Force base in Delhi stood ready to receive the military plane that carried Rana from the United States to face justice in India.
Rana – one of India’s most wanted terrorists – was extradited from the US late Wednesday.
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The 64-year-old will be arrested by India’s anti-terror agency, the NIA immediately after setting foot on Indian soil and be transferred to a high security cell in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
He will then be presented in a Delhi court, in accordance with the law, and then is expected to be moved to Mumbai, where he will be interrogated by high-ranking officers and face trial.
There have been multiple calls for Rana to be executed.
Rana has been charged with criminal conspiracy, waging war against India, murder, and forgery, as well as many others. Intelligence agencies believe Rana played a key role in helping another terrorist, Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, plan the Mumbai terror attacks.
Headley, now in jail in the US, said Rana extended logistical and financial support.
Rana’s extradition from the US marked a significant step forward in India’s hunt for justice for people killed in the terror attacks on Mumbai and their loved ones, and has been credited to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diplomatic efforts. The opposition Congress, though, has pointed out the actual process to bring Rana back began under its watch, back in 2009.
“This extradition is the culmination of a decade-and-a-half of painstaking diplomatic, legal, and intelligence efforts which were initiated, led, and sustained by the (Congress-led) UPA government, in coordination with the US,” P Chidambaram, then the Union Home Minister, said.
Rana had been arrested by the US’ FBI in October 2009 on charges of providing support to an aborted plan to attack a newspaper in Copenhagen and supporting Pak-based terror group Lashkar, which was responsible for the Mumbai attacks. Two years later, he was convicted.
He then unsuccessfully appealed to American courts to challenge his extradition to India.
The three-day attack that devastated Mumbai targeted hotels, a train station, and a Jewish institution. Of the 10 terrorists, only one – Ajmal Kasab – was caught alive.
Kasab was executed on November 21, 2012.