Tahawwur Rana extradition: Ex-Home Minister Shinde calls it a 'good thing'

Sushilkumar Shinde was serving as the Union Home Minister in 2012, when Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only surviving terrorist of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was executed at Yerawada Jail in Pune

Former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has welcomed Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s extradition to India, calling it a “good thing”. Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian businessman, faces charges in connection with the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

 

Shinde was the serving Union Home Minister in 2012, when Ajmal Amir Kasab, the sole surviving terrorist of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was executed at Yerawada Jail in Pune.

 

Shinde’s remarks came at the recently concluded All India Congress Committee (AICC) session in Ahmedabad. The move has also been welcomed by Jayant Patil, president of NCP (SP), Maharashtra. Patil, a former home minister of Maharashtra, mentioned that Rana’s extradition to India will help in exposing Pakistan’s role as a terror state and will help in revealing the names of all masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

 

Tahawwur Rana’s role in the Mumbai terror attacks 

Rana, 64, is a Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman and a former military doctor who maintained ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based Islamist militant group. He is also known for maintaining ties with a Pakistani-American terrorist, David Coleman Headley, also known as Daood Gilani, one of the key conspirators of the 2008 terror attacks.

 

According to reports from investigative agencies, Rana played a significant role in assisting Headley in his reconnaissance mission in India. Rana, who operated an immigration services company, helped Headley obtain an Indian visa and then set up an office in Mumbai. The immigration consultancy firm served as a guise to carry out surveillance activities at several locations in Mumbai, which were targeted later by a group of 10 LeT operatives, including Ajmal Amir Kasab.

 

Tahawwur Rana’s extradition 

Rana, who will be lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail after he comes to India, has faced a massive setback after his last attempt to avoid extradition from the US failed after the US Supreme Court rejected his application. He was arrested in October 2009 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on charges of providing support to terrorism. He was acquitted in the US for his involvement in the 2008 terror attacks due to jurisdictional limitations. However, in 2020, the Indian government filed an extradition plea in the US, citing his role in the attacks.

 

 

2008 Mumbai attacks 

On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists killed as many as 166 people in the financial capital of India. The 26/11 attacks, one of the worst in India's history, were a series of coordinated attacks carried out at some of the prominent locations in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, the Oberoi Trident Hotel, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), and Nariman House. The terrorists entered India through the Arabian Sea.

 

[With agency inputs]