26/11: Headley will not help us nail Pakistan
David Coleman Headley, the half-gora terror scout credited with personally scoping out targets in Mumbai for what was finally the 26/11 attack in 2008, now wants immunity to sing.
Joining a Mumbai court live on a video link from his Chicago prison for his first-ever testimony in the 26/11 case, Headley has offered up a clever wager: pardon, in exchange for a total confession. Approver Headley wants us in India to think that he will be the juggernaut that will nail Pakistan, arms flailing, to a wall.
First things first: In 2013, Headley already provided pretty detailed and damning testimony about the Inter Services Intelligence's (ISI) role in the 26/11 attack during the trial of co-conspirator Tahawwur Hussain Rana. The testimony he provided at the time superbly fitted in with India's own painstaking stack of dossiers on Pakistan's unambigious sponsorship - involvement is such a gentle word - of an invasive, commando-style terror attack that killed 168 people, including foreign nationals on Indian soil.
It's useful to look at what Headley can possible tell us that we don't already know.
Chiefly, he could help nail the enemy within - Indians here in the country who aided and abetted the terror mission, from the scouting effort to the actual attack. Valuable. Part of a painstaking current effort that includes individuals like Abu Jundal and potential several others under statutory protection of Pakistan and other terror-friendly nations in the Middle East.
Sure, Headley was no Ajmal Kasab. But we did capture Kasab alive. And he did provide some of the most direct evidence of the hand of the Pakistani state.
We have got stunningly clear audio intercepts of the entire 26/11 attack on tape, all of it a powerful indicator and proof of the meticulous involvement of Pakistan's ISI and other statutory agencies. Let's not even talk about the dozen dossiers India has sent Pakistan's way in the hilarious hope that a terror-sponsoring state will have a pang of conscience.
It's not going to happen. Not for a country so deeply invested in the instrumentality of terror.
Cynicism is cheap. Especially, when it comes to elusive justice for a terror attack that shocked the world, and set a template for several future attacks, including Paris most recently. But let's remember it's been seven years. And nobody in Pakistan has paid for 26/11.
Listen to approver Headley, by all means, and use his words to build an even bigger case against Pakistan. But it's time we stopped having any big expectations from Pakistan that they will punish the guilty. They never have and never will.