Former Pakistan PM Gilani visited my house after father's death: Headley

March 25, 2016

Mumbai, Mar 25: Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was Pakistan's Prime Minister in 2008, had visited David Coleman Headley's home within weeks after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the Lashkar terrorist told a Mumbai court today, giving a new twist to his testimony.

Headley"It is not correct to say that the then Prime Minister of Pakistan--Yousuf Raza Gilani-- had attended the funeral of my father who passed away a month after the Mumbai terror attacks on 26/12/2008. Infact, he (Gilani) visited our house (in Pakistan) a few weeks thereafter," the Pakistani-American terrorist told special judge G A Sanap, who is hearing the case against Abu Jundal in the sessions court here.

The 55-year-old Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative-turned approver in the case is being cross-examined by Abdul Wahab Khan, the lawyer of Jundal who is an alleged key plotter of the 2008 Mumbai siege, via a video-link from the US.

Deposing for the third day after his cross-examination began on Wednesday, Headley said his father, who was a Director General with Pakistan Radio, knew about his links with with LeT.

"My father was aware of my association with LeT and he was not happy about it," he said.

When asked was it true that his half-brother Daniel knew about his LeT connection, Headley just said that he (Daniel) was not living in the same city (in Pakistan).

Headley, who has been convicted in the US, for his role in the November 2008 attacks, also denied using Daniel's mobile phone during his visit to Pakistan before the dastardly strikes in Mumbai.He is serving a 35 year jail term in the US.

During his deposition, Headley said,"Saulat Rana, my friend in Pakistan, was aware of my connection with LeT and my visit to Mumbai prior to the 26/11 attacks."

"Rana neither objected nor encouraged me," he told the court.

On whether Rana was associated to LeT, Headley said, "No". When asked whether he (Headley) toured Pakistani locations with Rana before the Mumbai attacks, he replied in the negative and wondered why he would go around in Pakistan when the target was India.

Headley also told the court that he had no knowledge of any women cell and suicide bomber cell in LeT.

He denied that NIA suggested to him to name Ishrat Jehan (in the case). He also refuted meeting special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and Joint Commissioner of Police, (Crime) in USA before his deposition in February this year.

When asked if he was treated for any mental illness, Headley replied in the negative and chuckled, "Yeh kya kya cheeze mere khaate mein daal rahe hain Wahab Sahab. Nahin, aisa koi wakya nahin hua (Wahab Sahab, what all things are you ascribing to me...nothing of this sort happened)."

Headley also said that he does not know about who decided the date for the first attack (failed one in Mumbai).

Earlier in the day, Headley told the court that he had "arranged" a fund-raising programme for the Shiv Sena in the US and had planned to invite the then party supremo Bal Thackeray to the event.

The terrorist, who is serving a 35-year jail term in the US, said that Sena man Rajaram Rege had told him that "Thackeray was sick and so may be his son and other officials may attend the programme".

To a query whether LeT was in the know, Headley said he had discussed about the fund-raising programme with the terror outfit.

Headley also told the court that he had developed hatred towards India and Indians since childhood and wanted to "cause maximum damage since then".

Asked about the reasons of his hatred, Headley said, "My school was bombed in 1971 by Indian planes and that time, I developed this feeling."

People were killed in the attack, he said, adding it was one of the reasons that why he joined the LeT.

Asked whether he was in constant touch with US investigation authorities from 1988-2008, Headley said "no".

He refuted allegations that US agencies were financing him. "It is baseless to say that my movement to Pakistan was known to US agencies."

He also said it would be incorrect to say that FBI had not insisted on fines to be imposed on him in the US court on account of his role in the 26/11 attacks.

"This is not true. It is not FBI's job to insist on fines in the court," he said.

He also denied that in collusion with FBI, he had saved USD 30 lakh fine amount and that because of this, the agency had not insisted on death penalty or life term.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Military commanders of India and China are scheduled to meet today at Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), to discuss the ongoing dispute along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.

The Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps of the Indian Army Commander Lieutenant Gen Harinder Singh will meet his Chinese equivalent Maj Gen Liu Lin, who is the commander of South Xinjiang Military Region of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to address the ongoing tussle in Eastern Ladakh between the two countries over the heavy military build-up by the People's Liberation Army along the LAC there.

The two sides have held close to a dozen rounds of talks since the first week of May when the Chinese sent over 5,000 troops to the LAC.

On Friday, officials of India and China interacted through video-conferencing with the two sides agreeing that they should handle "their differences through peaceful discussion" while respecting each other's sensitivities and concerns and not allowing them to become disputes in accordance with the guidance provided by the leadership.

In the last few days, there has not been any major movement of the People's Liberation Army troops at the multiple sites where it has stationed itself along the LAC opposite Indian forces.

India and China have been locked in a dispute over the heavy military build-up by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) where they have brought in more than 5,000 troops along with the Eastern Ladakh sector.

The Chinese Army's intent to carry out deeper incursions was checked by the Indian security forces by quick deployment. The Chinese have also brought in heavy vehicles with artillery guns and infantry combat vehicles in their rear positions close to the Indian territory.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 11,2020

New Delhi, Mar 11: A doctor in Kerala on Tuesday alleged that she was sacked by the management of the private clinic she was working with for informing authorities about a non-resident Indian (NRI) patient who reportedly declined to undergo the mandatory check for coronavirus.

Dr Shinu Syamalan said the patient had come to the clinic recently with suspected symptoms of the virus.

"When he was asked whether he had visited any foreign countries, he said he was coming from Qatar. But he had not reported to the Health department about his foreign trip," she said.

When he was directed to inform about his foreign travel to the state Health Department, which has been monitoring people coming from abroad for the virus, he refused and said he was going back to Qatar, she told reporters.

Concerned over the health of the person who had high fever, Ms Syamalan informed health and police authorities.

"Officials who let the patient go abroad do not have any problem, but I have become jobless," she posted on social media.

She alleged she was sacked by the management of the clinic for reporting the matter to police and informing the public about the incident through social media and through television.

"The argument of the management is that no one would turn up for treatment in the clinic if they come to know that it was visited by patients with suspected symptoms of Coronavirus," she said.

There was no immediate reaction from the management of the private health clinic.

Official sources said the District Medical Officer (DMO) at Thrissur has complained to the collector against Shinu Syamalan accusing her of defaming health officials.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 18,2020

As many as employees of Zee News have tested positive for the coronavirus, Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary said on Monday. Most of them are asymptomatic, he said, tweeting an official statement from Zee News about the situation.

The organisation said that on May 15, one of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus. Following this, the company started testing employees who may have come in contact with the employee. Twenty-seven more were found to be infected.

“Fortunately most of them are asymptomatic and are not complaining of any discomfort,” Zee News said. “We believe this is because of early diagnosis and proactive intervention.”

The news network said all guidelines and protocols have been followed, and its office, newsroom and studios have been sealed for sanitisation. The Zee News team has been shifted to an alternative facility.

“At the moment, Zee Media Corporation has 2,500 employees, by far the largest in the private sector,” the company said. “We are committed to the safety of each one of them.”

Chaudhary also claimed that “those who are infected had the option of sitting at home and sharing memes”. “They came to work because they are committed professionals.”

Following this, some social media users claimed that Zee News employees found infected with Covid-19 were still at work. In response, Chaudhary alleged that a malicious campaign was being conducted to distort his statement. He said no infected employee had come to work, and all the contacts of the employee who tested positive on May 15 had been tested and quarantined.

Over the past two months, journalists from several media organisations have tested positive for the coronavirus. On April 21, 26 employees of a Tamil news channel based in Chennai tested positive for the coronavirus. The previous day, over 50 journalists from Mumbai were found infected, after samples of over 170 journalists were tested.

On May 7, a newspaper journalist died of the coronavirus in Agra. Some states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi, have tested journalists for Covid-19.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.