Headley plea bargain puts India on slippery ground

Even as Pakistani-American David Headley pleaded guilty and saved himself from a severe penalty at a Chicago court, India’s concerns over getting him to the country for interrogation have been compounded, to say the least.

David Headley has, according to the terms of the plea bargain, pleaded guilty to all the charges against him. It is now revelaed that he attended 5 terror camps in Pakistan.

The event has come about as a definite setback to Indian investigators, but the government is not prepared to see it as a blow. For all we know, the government was very well prepared for the eventuality of David Headley (original name: Daood Sayed Gilani) not ever being made available to India, considering that he is most probably a double agent.

According to the Home Ministry, it is not viewing the Headley plea bargain as a setback, and it will continue to press for his extradition even though no extradition to India, and no death penalty, is part of his plea bargain.

India is now gearing up to file charges against the 49-year-old who is a suspected LeT operative, at an appropriate time and seek access to him. Home Minister P Chidambaram has state that the United States administration has already provide good details about Headley’s activities. However, there are many questions that remain unanswered. India is bent on filling the gaps at the most opportune time.

With David Headley having agreed to truthfully testify to any foreign judicial proceedings held in the US, via deposition, video conferencing or through a formal communication to request testimony of a witness residing foreign land, India has scope to interrogate Headley as it believes that the US would agree to India’s case of having him grilled in the US.  Chidambaram believes that there is a good chance that Headley would testify in a US court where Indian authorities will have a chance to ask questions.

However, it has now become difficult for India to get Headley extradited. It is being pointed out that it would have been much easier to get Headley on Indian soil if he had committed crime only in India and was a fugitive in the US. Headley is accused both in India as well as in the US, where he conspired in the killing of people, who included six Americans.

Several Indian personalities have expressed anger at the decision, and Mahesh Bhatt’s son, who interacted with David Headley when he was in India, said that he should have been given the death penalty. According to news reports, David Headley has said that he used a friend’s immigration firm to rece targets for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Sections of the Indian media are accusing the Americans of not being as co-operative as they should be when it comes to David Headley. Our permanently angry anchor, Arnab Goswami of TimesNOW, posed the question that would Americans have tolerated it if Indians had entered into a similar plea bargain with someone involved in 9/11. Good question, we have to admit. But it ignores the realities of international politics, and what India would get to compensate for the plea bargain the US has entered into is unlikely to be public knowledge.