Finally, the US national of Pakistani origin David Coleman Headley admitted to the crime of his involvement in the conspiracy of the Mumbai attack before a Chicago-based court. Even before his admission to the crime, news reports has started emanating about it due to which the entire world had got to know that a deal was struck between him and the US Government.
According to it, if he divulges to the US Administration all information about the Mumbai strikes and other terrorist activities linked with it then he will not be awarded capital punishment. Simultaneously the United States announced its decision that Headley will not be handed over to India and Indian agencies can only interrogate him.
Activities in Pakistan
It clearly manifests that the US Administration, for special reasons, is trying to save him. Headley has been facing the charge that he acted as a double agent between the US Administration and the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiyiba. Earlier, he was once apprehended for smuggling heroin from Pakistan to the United States. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment on admission to the crime. He was subsequently set free to resume his activities in Pakistan.
The situation in respect of Headley is so complex that it is hard to readily perceive it. Yet, it has once again raised finger to the US tactics. It is intriguing to note a country leading the global war on terror is adopting double standards on terrorism.
Tackling Terrorism
The state of affairs of the US Administration by and large is such that while it feels the heat of fire when it engulfs its own house, but when some other house is set ablaze then it looks to it as if some sport is being played. The way the United States has saved a person from going to the gallows who led the conspirators of the Mumbai attack leaving more than 166 people dead and wounding hundred others and the way it exonerated him by making him confess to the crime and refusing to hand him over to India, the US Administration can be termed a major culprit.
The calculations of the US Administration to tackle terrorism are such that in order to restrain Al-Qa'ida leaders it is securing the support of Pakistan which intelligence agencies are in collusion with the terrorist organization for carrying out terrorist activities in India, but it is turning a blind eye to it. The United States will realize all this only when the heat of terrorism is once again felt by its own country in some form or the other. Even as an attempt has been made to save a dangerous conspirator like Headley, it does not realize that he can continue to be a cause of headache for itself also because seven US nationals were also killed in the Mumbai mayhem.
If it had not happened then the mindset of the US Administration would not have been confined to saving Headley and instead he would have been set free after a brief term of imprisonment. Now, if Headley is given the death sentence then the chief reason behind it would be the killing of some US nationals in the Mumbai attack.
Conspiracy Against Mumbai Attacks
In the wake of Headley's admission to the crime, the Pakistani Government also stands exposed, for until now Pakistan has been harping on its stand that the Mumbai attackers were not its nationals or the conspiracy for the Mumbai attacks was not hatched in Pakistan. It has come to the fore that Headley had been frequently visiting India with a view to survey the spots that were to be targeted by the Lashkar-e-Taiyiba. He had, in fact, taken a video footage of those locations. He has been frequenting Pakistan in order to feed intelligence inputs to Pakistan-based terrorists.
It should be clear to the Indian Government from the sequence of events that instead of depending on others to counter terrorism it should gear up on its own. It would be futile to carry out war on terror in such a way. We feel that India should not relax its endeavors on the issue of bringing Headley to the country because he is the prime accused for India, and not the United States.
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