Tahawwur Rana: One Step Forward, Long Road Ahead To Justice In 26/11

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the horrific terror attacks on Mumbai on November 26, 2008, will finally face Indian law. Extradited from the United States, the 64-year-old Rana was brought to New Delhi on Thursday night by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). His interrogation is underway. The NIA was, incidentally, formed as India’s premier anti-terror body a month after the 26/11 attacks, which claimed 166 lives and left hundreds injured. As things come a full circle, it is now headed by ace police officer Sadanand Date, who was injured that November night by shooters Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail. Lawyers, who represented India in the long battle to have Rana extradited, are expected to lead the prosecution against him.

While the Indian team deserves commendation for their dogged work in getting Rana back, it will have little meaning if he alone stands trial for his role as a co-conspirator in the 26/11 attacks. Bringing Rana to justice is easier said than done, but even when that comes to pass, it is unlikely to bring complete closure. The mastermind and key conspirators like Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and David Coleman Headley are still at large and out of the Indian net. Saeed and Lakhvi are in Pakistan, as are their handlers in the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Headley is virtually a free man in the US. He and Rana were arrested in the US in another case in 2009. While Rana spent years in jail there, Headley turned approver and told the US court that Rana facilitated his reconnaissance for the 26/11 attacks and knew about Lashkar-e-Taiba’s operations. Rana, it must be remembered, was a close confidant of Headley, with whom he went to school in Pakistan’s Hasan Abdal city and, later, facilitated his movements. Investigators have logged more than 200 calls between them. What the NIA interrogators glean from Rana about Headley will be critical to take the next steps to bring Headley to stand trial in India.

After Rana’s extradition, the US Department spokesperson affirmed, on record, “to work together to combat the global scourge of terrorism”. But will this translate into the US agencies handing over Headley to the NIA? Headley was, by all accounts, a key asset of the US in Pakistan and most likely played a double game; as such, he knows too much that makes the US uncomfortable if he is in India’s possession. Yet, only if Headley and the Pakistani masterminds can be made to face the law in Indian courts and sentenced can justice be said to have been done. And India, as a nation, along with hundreds of affected families, can hope to have a closure.