Washington: Although Islamabad seeks to exit from “grey list” of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on grounds of acting against terror groups and terrorist funding in Pakistan, it is still to provide access to the US FBI to interrogate 26/11 killer and planner Sajid Mir.
The 46-year-old chief planner and handler of 2008 Mumbai attacks is a top terrorist belonging to globally proscribed Muridke based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). He is wanted by US FBI for terror conspiracy against Denmark newspaper and its employees between 2008-2009 and an Illinois court indicted and issued a warrant against him on April 22, 2011.
After claiming that Mir had been killed over the past decade, Pakistan apparently claimed to have arrested the terrorist and a local court sentenced him to jail for 15 years. According to Pakistani newspapers, he is said to be in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore while intelligence inputs suggest that he is in custody of the Pakistani deep state in a guest house. More than 170 innocents including six American nationals were killed in the Mumbai attacks, which were orchestrated by LeT and Pakistani ISI from Karachi for three days.
It is understood that US FBI have sought permission of Islamabad to interrogate Mir for Mumbai terror strike, but no access has been provided to the terrorist as he could reveal the entire link between LeT leadership and the Pakistani deep state in targeting Mumbai. An Islamic jihadist, Mir was also involved in the ISI’s Karachi project, in which religiously radicalized Indian nationals were terror trained to hit back at their country of origin. The Indian Mujahideen group was the demon child of this project.
While Pakistan has no intentions of allowing India any access to incarcerated Mir, it will also block access to the FBI as it has done in the past. Islamabad has support of its iron brother China, who vetoed the designation of Mir as a global terrorist by the 1267 UN Sanctions committee last month. The proposal to designate Mir, who carries a bounty of USD five million on his head, was moved by US and India in the UNSC committee. Mir is also on the radar of Tel Aviv as he was the man who ordered the Israeli hostages at Chabad House at Nariman Point to be killed by asking the LeT terrorists in Mumbai to take a head shot.
Just as India, US and France are on the same page in holding Pakistan based terror groups and terrorists accountable, China has no qualms in supporting Pakistan by blocking any counter-terror move against Islamabad at the UNSC citing rules and obscure procedures. Recently, China has blocked designation of LeT’s chief financier Abdul Rehman Makki and Jaish-e-Mohammed’s de facto leader Rauf Azhar as global terrorist by the 1267 committee.
