Tahawwur Rana very relaxed after 26/11 Mumbai attacks: U.S. court document

Pakistani-origin terror convict Tahawwur Rana, whose extradition to India has received a green signal, was “very relaxed” in the days after the 26/11 attacks.

Pakistani-origin terror convict Tahawwur Rana, whose extradition to India has received a green signal, was “very relaxed” in the days after the 26/11 attacks and wanted Pakistan’s highest military honour to be bestowed on the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists who carried out the carnage in Mumbai.

In a major victory for India’s fight in bringing perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian of the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California issued a 48-page order on May 17 saying that Rana “should be extradited to India” under the extradition treaty between India and the U.S.

“The Court has reviewed and considered all of the documents submitted in support of and in opposition to the Request and has considered the arguments presented at the hearing. Based on such review and consideration and for the reasons discussed herein, the Court makes the findings set forth below, and CERTIFIES to the Secretary of State of the United States the extractability of Rana on the charged offences that are the subject of the Request,” the order said.

According to the details in the Certification of Extraditability and Order of Commitment about Rana’s involvement and association with a friend and LeT terrorist David Coleman Headley, on December 25, 2008, a co-conspirator who met Rana in Dubai sent Headley an email asking “How’s . . . [Rana’s] reaction on what all is happening, is he terrified or relaxed?” Headley responded the next day that Rana “is very relaxed” and was trying to calm Headley down.

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In a September 7, 2009 conversation, Rana told Headley that the “nine Lashkar terrorists who had been killed in the Mumbai attacks ‘should be given Nishan-e-Haider’, which is Pakistan’s highest military honour”. Rana, now 62, also asked Headley to tell “one of the co-conspirators responsible for planning the Mumbai attacks that he should get ‘a medal for top class’”. The document also notes that “Rana was pleased to learn Headley had already conveyed the compliment based on prior statements Rana had made equating the co-conspirator to a famous general.”

Rana also occasionally communicated directly with some of Headley’s contacts in Pakistan, it said.