A US court has consented to the Indian request, through the US government, for the extradition of Tahawwur Rana to India. The US court verdict has paved the way for the extradition of the Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman to India where he is wanted in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. The development has definitely come as a shot in the arm for the Indian probe agency National Investigation Agency (NIA). Now, once Rana is extradited to India, the NIA will be able to interrogate him so as to extract details about the whole conspiracy behind the Mumbai terror attack. Of course, Rana’s interrogation will help the NIA to collect more evidence to expose Pakistan’s involvement in the 26/11 massacre.
The US court verdict allowing Rana’s extradition to India is also a big diplomatic victory for New Delhi. The diplomats from New Delhi relentlessly continued to pursue with the US authorities to ensure that Rana’s extradition to India is possible. The legal battle against Rana in the US court was taken to a logical end. So, the verdict paving the way for Rana’s extradition to India is a big success for both the NIA and the diplomatic team of India. What is remarkable here is that the American government has heavily relied upon Indian investigation agency’s evidence related to the Mumbai terror attacks.
It suggests that the evidence provided by India was clinching and on the basis of the same, the NIA can expect a major breakthrough once Rana is quizzed here. The investigation will definitely open the entire gate of criminal conspiracy in which Pakistan’s involvement has been proven in the past. India will surely be successful in getting more corroborative evidence after Rana’s interrogation in NIA custody. Now India needs to work harder on two fronts. First, diplomatic efforts should be intensified to ensure that Rana is extradited as soon as possible. India seems to be fully ready for the diplomatic campaign as well.
On the matter of the speedy extradition of Tahawwur Rana, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Thursday (18 May) said, “We are in regular touch with the US authorities to ensure that there is speedy and early extradition of Rana. We have all seen the judgment that was given by the local US court there.” So, Foreign Secretary Kwatra has dropped ample hints about how New Delhi has already planned to go ahead with the massive diplomatic efforts for speedy extradition of Rana to India.
Secondly, once Rana is brought down to India, the NIA, which had visited the US a couple of times seeking 26/11 plotter’s extradition, should work on a comprehensive plan to make the former Pakistan army officer-turned-terrorist spill the beans. The Indian probe agency and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) have been working in close coordination since the beginning. It was due to the coordinated efforts that Rana was arrested in the US. He had been arrested following a request by India. On 10 June 2020, India filed a complaint seeking the provisional arrest of Rana with a view towards extradition. The Biden Administration had supported and approved the extradition of Rana to India.
Again, the coordination between the probe agency and diplomatic channels should be ensured. Reports are coming in that the NIA has started working with the diplomatic channels to ensure that Rana is brought to India soon. The top leadership of the agency and the MEA, and PMO officials should make joint efforts to plan a strategy to carry out the formal exercise leading to the extradition of Tahwwur Rana to India as soon as possible.
The Mumbai terror attack was one of the most horrific terror strikes that India has witnessed so far. Ten terrorists from Pakistan killed 166 people, including the citizens of the US and other foreign countries.
India shared truckloads of evidence with Pakistan exposing its involvement in the gruesome killings. But Islamabad continued to be in denial mode. Pakistan always called the evidence insufficient. It is in this background that Rana’s extradition to India will be quite crucial as India will then be able to unravel several conspiracy angles of Mumbai terror attacks exposing involvement of Pakistan-based non-state and state actors in this massacre.