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Pakistan distances itself from 26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana, says he's a Canadian
The Pakistani Foreign Office distanced itself from the key accused in one of the most horrific terror attacks on India.
Pakistan authorities reacted for the first time to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s extradition to India on Thursday.
Rana was extradited from the United States, where he has been held since his arrest in October 2009, along with another conspirator, David Coleman Headley, in a separate case.
The Pakistani Foreign Office distanced itself from the key accused in one of the most horrific terror attacks on India, pointing out his Canadian citizenship.
“Tahawwur Rana has not renewed his Pakistani documents in the last two decades. His Canadian nationality is very clear,” the foreign office said in a statement.
Experts believe that Tahawwur Rana's links to the Pakistan Army as well as the ISI could be properly established once he faces the law in India. Islamabad fears Rana could spill the beans on Pakistan’s role in conspiring the Mumbai 26/11 attacks.
Tahawwur Rana’s extradition from US to India
Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian doctor, owned a travel agency in Chicago, which was allegedly used by one of the Mumbai attacks masterminds, David Coleman Headley, for his travels to India before the attack.
Both Headley and Rana were arrested in Chicago in October 2009 when they were allegedly on the way to execute a mission against a Danish publication that printed a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed.
Later, Headley became an approver in the case and testified about his and Rana’s role in the attacks on Mumbai carried out by 10 terrorists associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) that killed 166 people from November 26 to November 29, 2008.
Rana is being brought back to India in a special plane from the United States. He is likely to be lodged in a high-security ward in Tihar jail. Necessary preparations have been made for lodging him in jail, and the prison authorities will likely wait for the court order.
