Editorial with Sujit Nair | Tahawwur Rana, 26/11 Mastermind, Brought to India | Mumbai Attack | US

[00:00:00] Namaskar, welcome to another episode of editorial. Tahawur Hussain Rana was extradited. Now, great news for India. A good diplomatic victory for our Indian government. A good show by our security forces, our law enforcement forces. Very good.

[00:00:34] But then two questions arise. Does this mean that we have achieved a milestone in our extradition and getting our criminals back from different parts of the world? Have we achieved some kind of a milestone? Is this going to be something that's going to be now repeated?

[00:00:54] Question number one. Question number two is why does the world, especially Europe, especially UK, especially Canada, especially United States, find protecting our or allowing our criminals to roam around free in their land? Okay. Why do they find that? Okay. Which is what we are going to talk today. And let's get right into the show and talk about it.

[00:01:17] So, let's start with Tahawur Hussain Rana. Tahawur Hussain Rana was a Canadian Pakistani citizen. He lived in Canada. And he was linked to Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. Now, this fellow, incidentally, was the sidekick to David Hussain Rana.

[00:01:46] I will, in a minute, come to David Hussain Rana. This guy was a sidekick to David Hussain Rana. And he was the logistic manager of David Hussain Rana and the person who would finance David Hussain Rana on behalf of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. That was this sidekick's role. Now, David Hussain Rana was the person who came down from, he was a United States citizen. He came down to India to do a recce for the 2008 terror attacks on India.

[00:02:15] These people were responsible for those 250 people injured in India in 2008. Possibly one of the biggest terror attacks that happened in our country. These were also the people responsible. Let me correct myself.

[00:02:38] Now, David Hedley was the main guy. He wrecked, he identified places, where, when, how, where is the best entry point, where would, where are the best places to go and attack. All this was David Hedley's brainchild, his design, his architect. And like I said, this Tahavur fellow funded him and gave him all the logistical support.

[00:03:02] Now, Rana was arrested in Chicago on the 18th of October 2009. Shortly after his boss, that fellow David Hedley was arrested. And this guy was convicted by a court, a federal court in Illinois. And he was convicted for providing material support to Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. But, but was acquitted for direct involvement in Mumbai attacks.

[00:03:29] And the court said, listen, there is inefficient evidence and he doesn't have knowledge of any specific event or activity or something. So, he was acquitted for direct involvement, but he was convicted for his links with Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. This is Tahavur Hussain. Tahavur Hussain Rana.

[00:03:53] Now, Hedley, who, like I told you, was the architect of this entire attack. Hedley was not given to us. We desperately tried for Hedley's extradition also. He was not given to us. Why? You know, because he had a plea bargain in United States, with United States court, where he said,

[00:04:11] I will tell you everything, but not to send me to India. And because of that, the extradition never happened. India kept on asking. The extradition never happened. He had killed 166 people in India. He had killed, he had injured more than 250 people, but he was never extradited and he's never going to be either. This guy, we got him.

[00:04:39] Now, the thing is, it's a very big moral victory for India, no doubt. It's a good political victory for Bharatiya Janata Party, that too, no doubt. But as far as investigation is concerned, as far as our use of him is concerned, I don't see, this is my view, I don't see it as much of him being much useful for us, because he was arrested 2009.

[00:05:07] You see, our intelligence agencies, our security forces have been vigilant and today, his information is dated. That is 2009 information, after that he was in jail. Whereas, we may have much more information than what this fellow would have about Laskar-e Tayyabha. Our intelligence agencies would have, I'm sure, have much more information than him. So, there is nothing much that this fellow Rana can offer to us, number one.

[00:05:35] Number two, the fact remains that we have solved almost all of the puzzle as far as 2008 is concerned. Our investigating agencies did a fabulous job. Mumbai police did a fabulous job. We investigated, we identified, we intercepted. We did everything that could have been done with our resources at that point in time.

[00:06:02] We did everything possible and a lot of this puzzle is already solved. And Rana today may not have much to add to our information bank. May not have much to add to our information bank. In fact, my point is, had this man been extradited to us in 2010, 2009, possibly, possibly, at that time, he would have been much more helpful to our investigation.

[00:06:31] He would have been much more helpful for our investigative agencies. But we were deprived of that. And that's what my editorial is today. Why are we deprived? Why is it that every person who commits a crime in India runs to a London or runs to Canada or runs to a United States of America? Why is that? Why does UK or Canada or US welcome them or at least not stop them?

[00:07:01] They seem to be getting citizenship and residency very easily. Why? I mean, let's talk about, do you remember this, that fellow, Nadeem Akhtar was accused of murdering T-Series owner, Gulshan Kumar. He was shot, broad daylight, shot dead. And Nadeem was accused of that. Nadeem is supposed to have organized the hit for killing that man. This is the, this was the accusation.

[00:07:29] But the point is, he was never given to Indian police. He was never given to Indian judiciary. He was never handed over to India for us to try him. In our courts, he was never handed over to us. London literally protected him. UK literally protected him. He still stays in London. Why? There was a man murdered. For crying out loud, he would have come. And if he was innocent, he would have been acquitted.

[00:07:57] He would have been back home or wherever he wants in the world. I am sure if he was acquitted, he wouldn't have gone back to London because he was making a lot of money in India. The fact remains that, why are we protecting? You see, Pannu, that Gurpat one Singh Pannu, that fellow, you see, he is not just about, you know, putting some weird views or creating a narrative in all. He is beyond all that. That man talks about planting bombs on our planes.

[00:08:27] Planting bombs in our events. He is threatening our sovereignty. He is threatening us. And that man roams freely in Canada. Roams freely in the United States. In fact, he was seen in the ceremony of Donald Trump. What are we talking about here? What are we talking about?

[00:08:52] How come our criminals get this kind of welcome or this kind of access in Canada and United States and UK especially? I will take you through some more names. Let us get into some more names, which you may find interesting. Names like Arsh Dalla. He is a Kalistani, pro-Kalistani person in Canada. Anmol Bishnoy, that is Lawrence Bishnoy's brother in Canada.

[00:09:22] Goldie Brar, Vijay Malaya, London, like I told you. These people commit a crime in India and they rush to UK or a lot of them to US. You know, I will take you through some headlines. December 10, 2024. Every third fugitive terrorist wanted by India is hiding in US. This is what the government had said. 24th of December.

[00:09:48] Only five extradition requests of terrorists resolved by Canada rest in limbo. This is what Indian envoy said. This was on the 25th of October, 2024. Why? Why do we have to face this kind of a proposition? Why are our terrorists or why are people who commit crime not a problem with Europe? And if something happens in US, they invoke the Article 5 where they say that, you know,

[00:10:17] one attack on any NATO countries and attack on all NATO countries and everybody will start hunting that attacker or that group. Why? Why? Why are we attack on India is nobody's problem? So, while, yeah, I mean, this is a great day, good that he is brought back. But listen, it is no, nothing much will change for India. A lot of them are still there. Pannu is still there. Gurpanthwan Pannu is still there.

[00:10:46] Nothing much changes for India. Perspective and all doesn't change. It is not that tomorrow onwards, every, you know, I'll give you some figures. US, there are 65 extradition requests pending, Indian extradition requests pending in the United States. And there is nothing happening about that. Of course, we don't know how many of their extradition treaty are trending, extradition requests are pending with us. That we don't know.

[00:11:15] That figure, of course, is not available. So, but the fact remains that 65 of our terrorists are, our criminals are there and they are not being extradited. Why? So, this is my question today. This is the point that I want you to ponder while, like I said, Tahur Rana now is with the NIA and he will be interrogated. They will try to find whatever information he has or it's currently relevant, like I said.

[00:11:45] They will try and find those information and the problem that we have to today ponder upon is when it comes to money, when it comes to money transfers, when it comes to money laundering, when it comes to terrorism, when it comes to attack. You see, if it happens in Europe, if it happens in America, if it happens in Canada, it's a world issue. It's everybody's problem.

[00:12:15] Everybody has to change their rules to accommodate and ensure that money launderers from there does not enter our country. We have to ensure that. But our people can launder whatever they want, whatever they want, whatever money they want, whatever fraud they commit. Our people can do and they are most welcome in these countries. At least, there is no resistance. They seem to be getting visas. They seem to be getting residence visa. They seem to be getting citizenship.

[00:12:45] A small country like Vanuatu did not give Lalit Modi citizenship when India objected. A small country. And UK now raising fingers at Vanuatu saying that, bhai, tum kishko bhi citizenship deta hai. What is UK doing? UK, he is staying in UK. No problem. India objected there also. India objected with UK also. UK doesn't have a problem. But Vanuatu did and at least Vanuatu didn't allow him to come into their soil.

[00:13:14] So, why is it? Why do we have different laws? We see different laws in India. But even globally, if you see the way some countries behave and are treated are very different to the way other countries behave and are treated. Some countries' life matter more than the others. That's the point I wanted to make today. Till I see you next time. That's tomorrow at 10. Namaskar.