BJP, Cong in credit war over extradition of 26/11 plotter
As Tahawwur Rana landed in India in NIA custody to face justice for his crimes, the Congress and the BJP faced off over credit for his extradition.
Former Home Minister P Chidambaram said the BJP government was rushing to take credit for the move, but “truth was far from their spin.”
“This extradition is the culmination of a decade-and-a-half of painstaking diplomatic, legal, and intelligence efforts that were initiated, led and sustained by the UPA government, in close coordination with the United States,” said Chidambaram.
However, he was rebutted by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who recalled “principal accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Ajmal Kasab being served biryani under the Congress-led UPA’s watch.”
“During Congress’ rule, terrorists had attacked the very hotel we are standing in. People died here, but the Congress did not do anything to punish those involved. The one who was caught, Kasab, was also served biryani. It is the resolve of PM Modi that those who attacked us will face justice on our own land now,” said Goyal, who was in Mumbai today.
Earlier in the day, Chidambaram said the Modi government did not initiate the extradition process nor did it secure any new breakthrough.
“It merely benefited from the mature, consistent and strategic diplomacy begun under the UPA. The extradition is not the result of any grandstanding, it is a testament to what the Indian state can achieve when diplomacy, law, enforcement, and international cooperation are pursued sincerely and without any chest-thumping,” he said.
He added that the coursework for extradition of Rana began on November 11, 2009, when the NIA registered a case in New Delhi against US citizen David Coleman Headley, Canadian citizen Rana, and others involved in the 26/11 conspiracy.
“That very month, Canada’s Foreign Minister confirmed collaboration with Indian agencies, thanks to the UPA’s effective foreign policy,” he said, detailing the journey of the case.
Later, the FBI arrested Rana in Chicago in 2009 for supporting a failed LeT plot in Copenhagen. Even though Rana was acquitted by a US court of direct involvement in the 26/11 attack in June 2011, he was convicted for other terrorism-related offences and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
“The UPA government publicly expressed disappointment over his acquittal and kept diplomatic pressure alive....A three-member NIA team interrogated Headley in the US before the end of 2011. The US government transferred crucial evidence to India, which became a part of the NIA chargesheet filed in December 2011 against nine accused, including Rana,” said Chidambaram.
The BJP officially hailed the extradition of Rana and said it reflected “new India’s zero-tolerance resolve towards terrorism.”
Accusing the Congress of being soft on terror for vote-bank politics, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “Between 2004 and 2014 (UPA era), there was not a single month when there was no major terror attack in some city. The UPA government remained a mute spectator and did not take concrete steps against terrorists and their sponsors.”
“Under the BJP-led NDA rule, major terror attacks have almost stopped,” he said,
The Congress meanwhile mentioned that it was in 2012 that India raised the matter of Headley and Rana’s extradition with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and by January 2013, Headley was sentenced to 35 years and Rana’s sentencing in the US also took place.
“India’s demand for Headley’s extradition was reiterated firmly, even as the UPA government expressed its disappointment at the sentence. Even after the change in government in 2014, it was the institutional efforts already in motion that kept the case alive,” said Chidambaram.
