Pakistan on Thursday (April 10, 2025) attempted to distance itself from 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks co-conspirator Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who was extradited to India from the United States.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Pakistan on Thursday (April 10, 2025) attempted to distance itself from 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks co-conspirator Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who was extradited to India from the United States.
Responding a question during a press briefing, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said Rana had not attempted to renew his Pakistani citizenship since he left the country.
“As far as our records indicate, he did not even apply for a renewal of his Pakistani-origin documents for the last two decades,” Mr. Khan said in Islamabad, stressing that Rana was a Canadian citizen.
Rana, who was born in Pakistan, studied at the Pakistani military academy in Hassan Abdal in Punjab province, where he became friends with David Headley, the Lashkar-e-Taiba operative tasked with reconnaissance for the attacks that took place in Mumbai from November 26 to 29 in 2008.
Rana served in the Pakistani Army as a doctor for several years and subsequently moved to Canada and then to the U.S., procuring citizenship of both countries. While Rana had told investigators that he was declared a “deserter” after he left the Pakistani Army and moved to Canada in 1997 after developing a medical condition, investigators have held that he retained links to the military for covert operations.
The National Investigation Agency had said that Rana plotted the attacks with Headley and assisted him with visa and travel logistics. He also liaised with “Major Iqbal”, who is also wanted in the case. The NIA had filed a chargesheet against Rana and Headley in 2011.
Rana also travelled to India with his wife in November 2008, shortly before the attacks.
Headley was convicted for the 26/11 conspiracy by a U.S. court but was offered immunity from extradition by U.S. officials. Rana was acquitted in the conspiracy case, but convicted for his links to the LeT and another terror plot in Copenhagen, and served part of a 14 year term in a California prison.
Israel welcomes move
Israel’s Ambassador to India Reuven Azar welcomed the U.S. decision to extradite Rana and thanked India for its “persistence” in bringing the terrorists responsible for the Mumbai attacks to justice.
He said Rana was one of the “perpetrators of the terrible, horrendous terrorist attacks that happened in Mumbai”.
Of the 166 people killed in the attacks, 141 were Indians and 25 foreign citizens, including four Israeli nationals, who were targeted at the Chabad House in Mumbai.
Published – April 10, 2025 09:25 pm IST