Indian Mumbai sting operation

The recent statement of Mian Nawaz Sharif, thrice elected prime minister of Pakistan, has created a political turmoil in the country and various controversial views have been coming in the media whereas Indian media used this statement to the advantage of India terming it as the confession of former prime minister of Pakistan displaying the involvement of Pakistan as a State in the Mumbai attacks. This propaganda of Indian media and statement of defence minister of India is absolutely rubbish as it is factually incorrect. I feel that the record should be corrected and, therefore, I am hereby placing the factual position for the eyes of the public.

Pakistan is already under observation in Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is going to take a decision concerning Pakistan by this June and the controversial statement of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has provided India with an opportunity to propagate against Pakistan and to influence the decision of the FATF, while the factual position and the official stand during PPP government on Mumbai attack, which was based on hard facts and substantive evidence, was something different from the statement of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and the subsequent propaganda by Indian media. The statement of Mian Nawaz Sharif is substantially contradictory to the facts, therefore, there is a need to put the record straight, especially when the statement was made by none other than a person who had remained prime minister of Pakistan for three times.

My first press conference, as interior minister, is available on Google and these contents were cleared by the National Security Council comprising of three services chiefs, other members of the cabinet and the then prime minister who chaired that meeting. The facts are that I, as then interior minister, had clearly stated then that the non-state actors have been used by Indian spy agency RAW. David Headley (Daoud Syed Gillani), a Pakistani origin US national – born and brought up in USA - had carried out the recce of the targets in India and was part of this plan. He was born as Daoud Sayed Gillani in Washington, DC, to Sayed Salim Gillani and Alice Sherrill Headley (Jewish by faith). Headley's father & his religion are often discussed, but when it comes to his mother, there is a studied silence. David was a child of a broken family & around the age of sixteen, Sherrill Headley took him away to the US where he changed his name from Daoud Gillani, to David Coleman Headley. Headley operated out of the key Zionist strongholds in the US, namely Chicago & New York & in India from Goa, Mumbai, Pushkar (Rajasthan) & Himachal Pradesh. This shows that he had nothing to do with Pakistan or the religion. He acted as chief coordinator of this act of terrorism.

David, a convict in a drug case, was launched from USA after giving him amnesty in the said drug case. He later established a travel agency in India as cover up which was fully supported by RAW. He visited Pakistan 5 times duly facilitated by RAW to launch its sting operation using Pak non-state actors. Few days earlier than the attack, a junior Indian policeman had recovered these maps from Ansari brothers, agents of RAW, who were also part of the plan. Indian RAW tried to cover it up but it had leaked to the media. These two brothers were although arrested to cover up but were ultimately released without any prosecution/trial.

It was RAW, which facilitated the non-state actors like Ajmal Kasab recruited from Pakistan by RAW. That is why India did not give access to Pak investigators to Ajmal Kasab despite numerous requests made to India. India even till today has not given response to 35 questions given to India on this matter. India did not cooperate with the visiting Pak commission appointed by the trial court. I even demand from India today to hand over two Ansari brothers to us enabling our investigator to ask them some questions regarding their involvement in the attack, their arrests and the reasons for their release. The question arises as to why these two Ansari brothers were not prosecuted by India who was fully involved in this whole terrorist operation as facilitator on behalf of RAW.

A professional Indian Police DIG Hament Karkare was killed on the same day (on the day of Bombay attack) mysteriously who had earlier exposed the terrorist act of RAW and RSS on Samjhota Express under the command of Army officer Lt Col Prasad Srikant Purohit. Both Faheem Ansari and Sabahuddin Ansari had acted as agents of RAW and they were interlocutors between RAW and non-state actors. They were the one who had helped David Headley in his recce.

Pakistan had put 35 questions and sent multiple dossiers to India to be answered by Indian authorities but were never responded. Telephones, which were used by Kharak Singh under phone call number 2012531824, IP address from Kuwait 8078132155 was also used and an IP of Spain, were never investigated by India. Payment was made from Italy.

Indian government denied access to Ajmal Kasab and other accused persons. The Pakistani judicial commission was not allowed to examine the witnesses and accused persons whereas government of Pakistan had fully cooperated with India in investigation and responded its questionnaire promptly with facts. FIA had also registered case against the alleged persons and investigated their alleged involvement in the planning or execution of the attack. During this investigation, carried out of a JIT comprising of senior officers were unanimous in their conclusions that no state actor, whosoever, was involved in this incident at any level. In fact it was State of India, which had engineered it to divert the international attention on the violation of human rights in Kashmir by the Indian Army.

It is a known fact that non-state actors like David Headley and Ajmal Kasab, worked for their own motives and money without having any regard to the nationality or allegiance of their masters. I wish Mian Sahib should have been aware of this distinction between state actors and non-state actors.

My claim that the Mumbai attack was in fact orchestrated by Indian RAW with the support of certain foreign countries has now been corroborated by Mr. Elias Davidsson in his 800-page book titled ‘The Betrayal of India: [A Close Look at the 2008 Mumbai Terror Attacks]’. Mr. Davidsson has explicitly claimed that it was a ‘false flag’ operation by Indian agencies. The statement of Mian Nawaz Sharif has created impression as if State of Pakistan had allowed these terrorists to act in India whereas factually it was a sting operation of RAW against Pakistan and RAW successfully used some non-state actors.

My earlier statement/ first press conference was based on investigation of a high-powered JIT and it was the factual national response to India whereas Mian Nawaz Sharif has given this incorrect statement in his individual capacity. However, since this statement has come from a former PM as such it would have harmful effects for Pakistan.

We need to see the recent statements of President Donald Trump claiming Pakistan as hub of terrorists and now the statement of Mian Nawaz Sharif could be taken as corroborating the stance of President Trump. This baseless statement from a former PM of Pakistan could be damaging for us worldwide. Such a statement implicating Pakistan amounts to backing UNO to enlist Hafiz Saeed, as terrorist, who was found not involved in this attack. He was proven innocent and the Supreme Court of Pakistan bailed him out.

Before the interview, Nawaz Sharif should have taken a briefing to mark difference between state actors and non-state actors. The Indian agent Ajmal Kasab was a non-state actor whereas Indian RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav is an established state actor of India.

For the people of both countries India and Pakistan, I am reproducing the 35 questions which the government of Pakistan had asked India regarding the Mumbai attacks but India had been consistently avoiding the response to those 35-questions which included demands for provision of fingerprints lifted from recovered weapons, personal articles and navigation devices etc., and the DNA profiles and clear photographs of all the ten accused for comparison with the available database. We also asked for the details of all the crewmembers (including the missing members) of the hijacked boat, which was allegedly used by the terrorists to arrive at Mumbai seashore. They were also requested to trace out the hijacked boat, provide its picture and the registration number for verification and to identify the hijacker who was killed. We asked if any FIR had been lodged by the family members of the missing crewmembers and what were the outcomes of investigations on their side, expectedly there was no response.

India was also required to provide Intercepted voice recording and photographs identified by Ajmal Kasab as of Abu Hamza, Kahfa and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. The questions regarding the details and profile of the driver and the taxi in which Ajmal Kasab had reportedly planted bomb before getting off at the station also remained unanswered. The Forensic analysis of numbers stored in memory of Thuraya’s telephone besides the call log and SMS history along with the complete mobile data, GPS data and call log details of the recovered cell phones of the accused were demanded without any response. They were requested to provide the CCTV footage of attackers for identification purpose as well as the details of the house in Azizabad, Karachi.

We even called for each and every minor detail of the recovered evidences like tailor/company marks on garments of accused recovered by police, location of the shop with city, photograph of the Yamaha engine with serial/product number for identification, photographs of engravings on weapons recovered from the accused and photographs of the areas of the railway station as well where the accused attacked indiscriminately. It was also demanded that they hand over the results of interrogation from Ajmal Kasab with Indian Police regarding the description of his associates, particulars of the hospital where they had entered before his arrest, registration numbers and photographs of the vehicles they used after escaping from the Railway station till the time he was arrested and how his accomplice Ismail was killed by the police.

The above questions present the factual position of the case along with evidence that the non-state actors from Pakistan including David Headley were recruited and financed by Indian RAW for India sponsored Mumbai Sting Operation.

I as interior minister held first press conferences and stated that non-state actors had done it having the support of RAW and subsequently my statement was proven beyond doubt.

Here is the statement of Mian Nawaz Sharif: “Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can’t we complete the trial?”The plain reading of this statement suggests as if it was the state, which had allowed the non-state actors to cross over to India to kill the people.

I have appealed Mian Nawaz Sharif to withdraw his statement as he may be asked to testify at the forums like UNO, FATF and Indian court later that will be embarrassing for Pakistan as well as for him. I hope that he would withdraw his statement and ease out the tension as this statement has brought lowest in the mind of a common man hence it has dented his popularity graph. His own party leaders and a normal worker were not happy on this pro-India statement and this voice was echoed in the recent party conference chaired by his own brother and president of the party. It is in fact India, which is applying reverse psychology on Pakistan via its own Indian media.

The writer is Chairman of think tank "global eye" & former Interior Minister of Pakistan. @Email: rmalik1212@gmail .com, Twitter @Senrehmanmalik, @GlobalEye_GSA, WhatsApp +923325559393