Hated India since my school was bombed in 1971: Headley

MUMBAI: “I hate India and Indians since childhood and wanted to cause maximum damage,” said David Headley on Friday. His words, clearly enunciated in his booming baritone, came via a videoconference link in a chilling response during his cross-examination, from the air-conditioned confines of a room in the US, where he was seated on a cushioned swivel chair, in between his lawyer and a prosecution advocate, three red paper cups on a table in front of each.
The US national of Pakistani descent is serving a 35-year term prison in the US for plotting and planning the November 26, 2008, Mumbai terror attack that killed 166 people, including US citizens. He is now an accused-turned-approver, in the trial of suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in the 26/11 terror case.
On Day 3 of his cross-examination by Jundal’s defence lawyer, Headley denied he was in the control room in Karachi or gave instructions to the terrorists during the attacks.

“Yes, I already pleaded guilty to that,” he said, betraying no emotion as he leaned back, dressed in a grey sweat shirt, blue slip-ons with a white sole, when asked by Jundal’s lawyer Wahab Khan if he wanted to cause maximum damage to India. Across the room, on a smaller television screen, Jundal sat in a non-AC room on a wooden bench, walls and floor recently painted, hands rested on a small table covered with a white cloth, silently listening in on the six-hour long deposition with couple of coffee breaks. However, in the first break, he told Khan to ask the few questions he had prepared.
“When my school was bombed on December 7, 1971, is when the feelings (of hatred) developed,” said Headley. He asked the “relevance” of the next question on “who bombed the schools” before answering, “Indian planes”. The reference was clearly to the Indo-Pak war. “My school was destroyed and people there died,” said the 55-year-old who was 11 then. It was “one of the reasons” why he joined LeT, he admitted.
Why did he want to fight in Kashmir? To this question from Khan, which he had already answered in the main deposition to special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam he shot back with, “Am not on trial here. Why do you keep asking these questions again.’’ When special judge G A Sanap said, “you are a witness, not accused here’’ he calmed down and said, “it was to assist the people in Kashmir in the conflict between India and Pakistan on the issue of Kashmir.’’ Khan persisted and Headley said, “I wanted to go with LeT people and fight the troops there.’’
Earlier to series of questions on plea bargaining and “terms put by FBI”, Headley retorted “whatever is there is reflected in the agreement” which he said were decided by his attorney and prosecutors and denied he sought the bar on his extradition to other countries, including India. Judge Sanap asked him not to lose his patience. It was 90 minute into the cross. Headley said, “I won’t,” before looking at Khan and saying, “Main bahaut kharab insaan hoon. Main maan gaya hoon. Aap fir se ye sabit karna chahate ho. I have already pleaded guilty. (I am a very bad person. I have accepted that. You are trying to establish it again).
Nikam objected to a question where Khan asked if he was ready to face trial in India, apprehending that Headley may lose his cool and ‘insult’ the defence lawyer. When Khan persisted with “you never intended to come to India to face trial” Headley again answered, “India ana, ki nahin ana (to come to India or not) that was never an issue”. Headley, arrested in 2009, had trained with LeT and done a reconnaissance of terror targets in Mumbai and entry points for the 10 terrorists. The US spared him the maximum sentence of death that the terror and murder charges against him attracted, after he admitted his guilt and revealed information.
Headley said despite the FBI quizzing his relatives in Philadelphia about his whereabouts in December 2008, he was “only curious” and continued to travel to India to recce Delhi and also continued with the ‘Mickey Mouse project’ — the Denmark attack plan.