Government should demand immediate access to Headley: CPI-M

NEW DELHI - Accusing the government of not doing enough for the interrogation of Mumbai terror attack accused Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Saturday said India should demand that Us authorities give immediate access to the Lashkar-e-Taiba operative.

In a statement, CPI-M politburo said the US was only concerned about its Af-Pak strategy and was not willing to cooperate in an investigation concerning a prime accused of the Mumbai terror attack.

The least that the government can do is to demand immediate access to Headley. The US needs to be told that cooperation has to be reciprocal, the CPI-M said.

The CPI-M said Headley was arrested by the US authorities for his role in terrorist related activities about six months back and the plea bargain struck by him in a US court had him pleading guilty to all 12 charges, including complicity in the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai.

Despite all these, the Indian authorities have been denied access to him. On the other hand, the Indian government allowed the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) to interrogate Ajmal Kasab in Mumbai.

The home minister knows very well that extradition is ruled out by the plea bargain. Yet, he declares, he is prepared to be patient. The Manmohan Singh government has once again shown how unequal the US-India relationship is, the statement said.

The party said it had been established that Headley has been an agent for the Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) of the United States and had visited Mumbai both before and after the terrorist attack in 2008.

The attitude of the US authorities suggests that he has been a double-agent. It is inexplicable. therefore, why the United Progressive Alliance government is pussyfooting around the issue with the US administration.

If access cannot be given to Headley as the issue has already gone to court, why was access not granted earlier when the Indian team was sent to the US?

The party said that US was not willing to cooperate in an investigation concerning a prime accused of the Mumbai terror attack and yet the FBI and the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) have access to all our intelligence and security related material and personnel.