Headley, appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing, continued to spill the beans on LeT involvement in the 26/11 terror attacks.


Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today continued his deposition for the second consecutive day before a court here.

Headley, appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing, continued to spill the beans on LeT involvement with the 26/11 terror attacks.

In his first deposition yesterday, Headley told the court that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strikes that killed 166 people but failed both times.

Describing himself as a “true follower of LeT”, Headley also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting “influenced and motivated” by the speeches of terrorist outfit’s founder Hafiz Saeed.

Headley, who is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, spoke about the role of Saeed, another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler in the outfit Sajid Mir.

Latest updates:

12.15 pm: Headley adds, “The plan to attack the conference hall in Taj was cancelled due to logistical reasons, like it was not possible to get weapons and personnel to the hall.”
12.10 pm: “They (LeT) made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the Indian Defence Scientists was cancelled," says Headley.

12.05 pm: "I was working for ISI also and met many people from Pakistani Army," says Headley.

12.00 pm: Headley says he was not given any money by ISI and LeT.

10.55 am: Headley says he used a GPS device given to him by Mir and Abu Khaffa to store locations.

10.50 am: Multiple targets included Taj Mahal Palace Hotel (Mumbai), Naval, Air station, Maharashtra Police state headquarters, Oberoi Hotel and CST. This included the video of Leopold cafe, Colaba Police Station and shops and Restaurants which are on the same road, says Headley. "During this surveillance, I also made the video of Bhagat Singh Marg road in Colaba." - ANI

10.46 am: Headley also says he was specifically asked to conduct surveillance of the Siddhivinayak Temple by Sajid Mir.

10.44 am: Headley says he handed over photo and video surveillance to Sajid Mir of the LeT and Major Iqbal, who were satisfied with it.

10.40 am: Headley says he stayed at the Taj Mahal hotel on the second floor with wife Faiza, where he conducted surveillance of the floor.

10.35 am: Headley is shown the register book from the Taj Hotel with signatures. Headley recognises and identifies his signatures.

10.30 am: Dr. Rana's friend Bashir Sheikh received Headley at the Mumbai airport. Headley's first day in Mumbai was also arranged by Bashir Sheikh, whom Headley says he did not know prior to his Mumbai visit.

10.20 am: Headley says he obtained permission from Dr. Rana to set up an office in Mumbai. Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a former army doctor in Pakistan convicted in the U.S. for providing material support to the LeT, was Headley's schoolmate. He also helped Headley obtain a multiple-entry business visa through Raymond Sanders, who ran an immigrant law centre in Chicago.

10.15 am: David Headley says he arrived in Mumbai for the first time on Sep 14, 2006 from Karachi.
 
10.00 am: Headley says he does not know why Mumbai was specifically targeted.

9.45 am: "Prior to November 2007, I had taken photography and videography of Hotel Taj (Mumbai), but I didn't know that it would be targeted," says Headley.

9.35 am: Headley identifies Pasha from a photograph.

9.27 am: In early 2003, Headley also met Abdul Rahman Pasha, an LeT leader, in a mosque in Lahore. Headley went on to visit Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Pasha to meet a drug peddler Zeb Shah to seek his help in smuggling weapons to India.

9.24 am: Headley says his wife Faiza lodged a complaint in US Embassy in Islamabad that he was involved in terrorist activities.

9.20 am: In October 2003, Headley met Maulana Masood Mazhar, the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed, about three hundred miles away from South Lahore. Headley also met with Zakir Ur Rehman Lakhvi in 2003 at Muzzafarbad.

9.17 am: Headley admits that LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen are working under United Jihad council, and that all these are terrorist organisations in Pakistan working against India.

9.15 am: Headley says he was asked by LeT to gather military intelligence in India and also recruit someone from Indian military for spying.

9.10 am: Another meeting was held in November 2007 in Muzzafarbad, head quarters of LeT where Khaffa and Mir discussed and made a mark up to attack Hotel Taj on the basis of information collected by Headley. They were discussing on the basis of pictures and videos of conference room at Taj where a meeting of Indian Defence Scientists was scheduled to be held.

9.05 am: Headley then says he was asked to make a general video and recce of Mumbai by Major Iqbal from the ISI.

9.00 am: In the deposition, Headley reveals that in the Spring of 2006, a meeting was held where LeT members Muzzabil Butt, Sajid Mir and Abu Khaffa were present. It was then decided that from Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi, Mumbai was chosen to set up an office.

8.55 am: Headley also admits that Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was the all-over spiritual leader of LeT. He was in charge of operations in occupied Kashmir. Lakhvi was appointed as the head of all military operations by Hafeez Sayeed.

8.50 am: David Headley while deposing before the Mumbai Court admits that he knows Al-Qaeda, he also defines Al-Qaeda as a 'terrorist organisation'.

More on the Headley case and his role in LeT :
Sajid Mir

Lashkar-e-Taiba commander

"Sajid Mir was a high-ranking officer in the Pakistani Army and apparently also was in the ISI."
Who is Sajid Mir?: Born in 1976, according to documents filed to obtain his Indian visa, Mir grew up in a middle-class ethnic Punjabi home.

 Mir's father, according to Indian intelligence officials, earned enough working in Saudi Arabia to build a comfortable family home near Lahore airport, set up a small textile business, and put his sons through college.

 He married the daughter of a retired Pakistan army chaplain; the couple are thought to have two sons.

Role in LeT: Mir was made responsible for training the growing number of western jihadists knocking on the Lashkar's doors.

 Fluent in English, Urdu and Arabic, he was known to the foreign jihadists as “Uncle Bill”—a reference to Mir's affable manner.
Mir and Headley: Intense pressure by the United States led the Lashkar to shut down its camps to foreigners. Headley had arrived at Mir's camp just after the foreigners were evicted under ISI pressure — and was used to target India alone.

 In an intercepted September 17, 2009 phone conversation with a former Pakistani military officer and military trainer called Abdur Rehman Hashim, Headley railed against Mir who, he asserted, had "rotten guts." "I am just telling you," he lectured Hashim "that the companies in your competition have started handling themselves in a far better way."
David Headley

Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba operative

Who is Headley? He was born Daood Gilani. His parents — the Philadelphia socialite Serill Headley and Pakistani poet and diplomat Syed Salim Gilani — divorced soon after they moved to Islamabad in 1960. Mrs. Headley returned to Philadelphia. Headley was admitted to a boarding school, where he first met Rana, but then moved to the United States in 1977. He rebelled against his mother's heavy drinking and multiple sexual relationships by expressing a loathing for all non-Muslims.

 Marital life Apart from Shazia Gilani, records show that he was married to Faiza Outhalla, a Lahore-based medical student. Headley divorced her to evade pressure from his family and then married her again after she filed a complaint with police in Lahore that led to his incarceration for several days.He also had another bigamous marriage with a New York-based make-up artist, Portia Gilani, ich ended in divorce in 2005.

 His other life Headley married Shazia Gilani, daughter of a retired Pakistan soldier, in 1999. Ms. Gilani moved to the United States in 2008, along with their four children — Haider, Osama, Sumya and Hafsa.

 Psychological problems Evidence also emerged that Headley was diagnosed in 1992 with multiple personality disorder — a condition which includes the possession of multiple mannerisms, attitudes and beliefs. His personal life could provide an explanation for why he sought psychological counselling..

 26/11 Mumbai attacks Viewing the terror strikes unfold in Mumbai on television, David Headley’s first wife Shazia used code words like “I am watching cartoons” to convey to him that he had “graduated”, a term she used for success of the 26/11 strikes.“I’ve been watching these cartoons (attacks) all day and I am proud of you,” Ms. Shazia wrote in an email to 50-year-old Mumbai accused during the strikes. 

Pakistan nailed: Here is what David Headley told the Mumbai court on Day 2


On the second day of his video trial before the Mumbai High Court, 26/11 convict and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley revealed that the Lashkar was planning to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel. He also revealed that he had been directed by the ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them.

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Headley pointed fingers at LeT and said that the terror outfit was responsible for most of the terror attacks in India and that the orders for the attacks came from its top commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. "I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zakiur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him," he told the court during his video deposition.

 Spilling the beans further, Headley said, "I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also to try and recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked."

From India Today magazine

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Other than carrying out recces of the Vice-President's house, India Gate in Delhi, Headley had also conducted a recce of the Maharashtra State Police Headquarters and the Naval air station in south Mumbai as well as the Sidhi Vinayak Temple. He also recorded the GPS coordinates of the location of Sidhi Vinayak Temple.

 Giving details of his meetings with the top commanders of the LeT, he said, "In November, December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad which was attended by Sajid Mir (who Headley had revealed to be his handler earlier) and one Abu Khafa. In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai."

From India Today magazine

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"The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid and Khafa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time. They also made a mock of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the scientists was cancelled," he said. At the same time, he revealed that before November 2007, the target of their attack was not decided.

 Headley further said he had "discussed with LeT leaders Hafiz Sahab and Zakiur-Rehman 'sahab' that it would be a good idea to take the US govt to court to challenge its decision to designate LeT as a foreign terrorist organisation and banning it."

From India Today magazine

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"Hafiz said it was a good idea but then did not say anything more on it. Zaki thought it will be a long process and many agencies of the Pakistani government like the ISI will have to be involved," said Headley. Other than the LeT leaders, Headley also pointed fingers at his wife Faiza who he said had complained to the police about his links with the LeT.

 "In December 2007, my wife Faiza lodged a complaint with the Racecourse police in Lahore alleging that I had duped her of money. In January 2008, she complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad that I was involved in terrorist activities and was closely associated with the LeT," he said.

 "Later when I asked her about this complaint, she told me that the "US Embassy officials seemed to have believed her".

Here are the LIVE updates:

  • Other than carrying out recces of the Vice-President's house, India Gate in Delhi, Headley had also conducted a recce of the Maharashtra State Police Headquarters and the Naval air station in south Mumbai.
  • I submitted the the final videography and photography survey to Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir (LeT)
  • GPS device was provided to me by Sajid Mir (LeT)and Abu Khafa, so that I could save various locations including locations in Arabian Sea.
  • During my surveillance in Mumbai, I used GPS device to store the locations. I also made the video of Bhagat Singh Marg road in Colaba.
  • Multiple targets included Taj Mahal Palace Hotel (Mumbai), Naval, Air station, Maharashtra Police state headquarters, Oberoi Hotel and CST. This also included the video of Leopold cafe, Colaba Police Station and shops and Restaurants which are on the same road-David Headley deposing.
  • I did the surveillance of multiple targets and selected landing sites.
  • During my surveillance in Mumbai, Sajid Mir asked me to specifically conduct a surveillance of Siddhivinayak Temple.
  • I gave the videography of second floor of Taj Hotel (Mumbai) to Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal. Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal were satisfied with the photography and videography.
  • Sajid Mir asked me to conduct recce of second floor of Hotel Taj, I discussed everything with Major Iqbal.
  • Conducted surveillance of Hotel Taj's 2nd floor when I stayed with my wife Faiza.
  • In 2007, I conducted surveillance in Taj Hotel many times.
  • I visited Mumbai on September 14, 2006 to set up office and left from hotel on September 28,2006
  • When shown register of the Taj hotel book with Headley's signatures, Headley recognised his signatures.
  • My first day in Mumbai was arranged by Bashir Sheikh.
  • Dr. Rana asked his friend Bashir Sheikh to receive me at the Mumbai Airport. I didn't know Bashir Sheikh prior to this Mumbai visit.
  • I got permission from Dr. Rana to set up my office in Mumbai.
  • When shown passport by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjawal Nikam, David Headley said that he arrived in Mumbai for the 1st time on September 14, 2006 from Karachi
  • I didn't do any enquiry why, says Headley when asked by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjawal Nikam on why was Mumbai particularly targeted for the attack.
  • When asked by Nikam about what "logistic reasons" mean, Headley said:"getting personnels and weapons."
  • The plan to attack conference hall in Taj Hotel was for logistics reaso.
  •  Prior to November 2007, I had taken photography and videography of Hotel Taj, but I didn't know that it would be targeted.
  • In 2007, LeT decided to conduct terror attack in Mumbai. In November-December 2007, a meeting took place in Muzaffarabad (PoK) which was attended by Sajid Mir, Abu Khafa and me.
  • In this meeting, they assigned me the task of conducting recce of Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai.
  • In this meeting, they (LeT) had information about some meeting of Indian defence scientist in the conference hall of Taj Mahal Palace hotel and they wanted to attack it.
  •  In a 2006 meeting attended by Sajid Mir, Muzamil, Abu Khafa and me, it was decided that I should go to India.
  • David Headley while deposing before a Mumbai court admits that Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was operational commander of LeT.
  •  I met Zakiur Rehman LakhvI for the 1st time in 2003 in Muzaffarabad (PoK) at headquarters of LeT.
  • I met Maulana Masood Azhar in October 2003 at a place 100 miles away from Lahore. He is head of Jaish-e-Mohammad. I met him in a gathering of Lashkar in 2003. Azhar was a guest speaker. Azhar spoke about his incarceration in India and his subsequent release.
  • I was staying with my wife Faiza in Pakistan. I married her in 2007.
  • I was arrested overnight after my wife's complaint to police. I owed a large amount of money so she complained to police. My wife complained and beleived that I had close association with Lashkar.
  • Zakiur Rehman was the Operational Commander of Lashkar in PoK.
  • If I have to speculate then I can say that Lakhvi carried out terror activity in India.
  • Hafiz Saeed is spiritual leader of LeT.
  • United Jihad Council - Harqat-Ul-Mujahideen, LeT, Hijbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad - are part of this Council. They are all terror organisations.
  • Maulana Masood Azhar made a speech about his activities in India and about his release.
  • In 2003, there was a gathering of LeT where Maulana Masood Azhar was the guest speaker.
  • Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was operational commander of LeT.
  • In a 2006 meeting attended by Sajid Mir, Muzamil, Abu Khafa and me, it was decided that I should go to India.
  • In this meeting, they (LeT) were having info about some meeting of Indian defence scientist in the conference hall of Taj Mahal Palace hotel and they wanted to attack it.
  • I completed my LeT training in 2004. Around 102 people were present in the training.
  • I interacted with Hafiz and Lakhvi. I discussed with Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi to take US govt to court for designating LeT as a foreign terrorist group.
  • Major Ali got in touch In early 2006. Major Iqbal told me that I will be of help with matters of military help like troop movements, recruitment officers in India. When this meeting happened with Major Iqbal, a person of Colonel rank was present there.
  • Major Iqbal enquired about my LeT training, passport and visa.
  • I met Abdul Rahman Pasha in early 2003 in Lahore. He is retired Army officer of 6 Baloch regiment: Headley (He recognized a photo of Abdul Rahman Pasha.)