Indian Internal Security - 4

[dhu]

[url="http://www.dailypioneer.com/233966/PC-Indian-may-have-been-among-26/11-handlers.html"]PC: Indian may have been among 26/11 handlers[/url]

Pioneer News Service

Making the first admission from the Government about the possible existence of a local link behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said that investigators were aware about the possibility of an Indian handler, whose identity is yet to be ascertained.



While refusing to speculate on the name of the handler, the Home Minister said investigators had known for long that there was a local handler in Mumbai terror attacks.



“There was a handler in 26/11 whom we have known for long or suspected for a long time. He could be an Indian,” Home Minister said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.



“When we say he could be an Indian, he could be somebody who acquired Indian characteristics. He could have infiltrated into India and lived here long enough to acquire an Indian accent, familiarity with Indian Hindi words or he could be somebody who exfiltrated from India to Pakistan and was adopted by the militants there,” Chidambaram said.



Asked if the local handler was one Abu Jindal, Chidambaram accused Pakistan of not providing evidence to trace the persons behind the 26/11 attacks. “We know him by Abu Jindal that something we have known for many months now... But he is not Abu Jindal. That is not his real name. We cannot put a finger who he is, unless we get a voice sample. And they (Pakistan) won’t give us voice sample.”



“There is speculation that Abu Jindal could be A, Abu Jindal could be B... But how as a Home Minister I can speculate? I can’t speculate, secondly, when we say he could be an Indian, he could be somebody who has acquired Indian characteristics.”



The Home Minister said they were not aware of the role or presence of David Hedley behind the 26/11 terror attacks till the US provided information. “All that was before 26/11. He came to India only once after 26/11,” said Chidambaram on the trips of Hedley.



To a question on the failure of Indian agencies’ ignorance of Hedley’s trips to India, the Home Minister said that it was not easy to track his trips, as “he is white, Caucasian looking person” and bearing American name and American passport.