Headley said nothing new, always knew ISI was behind 26/11: MEA sources
Headley’s deposition has reinforced India’s stated position on Pakistan’s involvement, but it is unlikely to change anything on the ground
Testifying over a video link from an undisclosed location in the US, David Coleman Headley on Monday told a Mumbai court that Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence were behind the 26/11 terror strikes. Headley’s deposition has reinforced India’s stated position on Pakistan’s involvement, but it is unlikely to change anything on the ground, official sources said.
Headley has only corroborated what India always knew but Pakistan is unlikely to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice, going by Islamabad’s track record, the sources said.
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“From propaganda point of view, the evidence is more robust now. But as far as dealing with Pakistan is concerned, nothing changes,” the sources added.
India has given several dossiers to Pakistan to get the neighbour to crack down on the perpetrators of the attack. But Pakistan has not taken any concrete action.
The foreign secretary level talks between India and Pakistan have been in limbo after terrorists from across the border attacked the Pathankot fighter base in January, further straining ties between the two countries. No dates have been fixed for the talks.
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Kanwal Sibal, a former foreign secretary, said India knew that Pakistan was involved in the Mumbai attacks right from the beginning and several attempts to get Islamabad to act against the perpetrators had yielded no results. “Pakistan has done nothing to bring them to justice and has taken shelter behind legal procedures. Headley’s testimony hardly changes the big picture,” he said.
Sibal added that taking the talk process forward now hinged on Pakistan cracking down on those who planned the Pathankot strike as Mumbai was no longer the central point.
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