India has been given access to David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani-American Lashkar operative who has confessed to his role in the Mumbai attacks, US National Security Adviser James Jones said on Saturday.
"Yes, access (to Headley) has been given. This is an ongoing process and I don't have any detailed information that will be helpful except to say that it is in the hands of right professionals from both countries," said Jones. "We have fulfilled our commitment," he said.Jones could not say how and when the team of visiting Indian investigators got access to Headley, who is being held in Chicago.
"We are very happy that in this world of terrorist activities, our two countries can work together to make sure that we exchange information rapidly, we exchange intelligence that we have. When we capture people that are of mutual interest, we try to arrange for those people to be interviewed by all interested sides...," he said.
Asked if the access to Headley would be a one-time affair or whether Indian investigating agencies would be given access multiple times, Jones said: "I don't know but the spirit of cooperation and respect for each other's position is alive and well and we have taken the first step. We just have to wait and see whether there is any other request beyond this one."
When asked what this case symbolises, he said: "If I were a terrorist, it would tell me that it looks like India and the United States are working very closely together and that is going to make my job a lot more difficult to be successful, and that's a good thing."
Jones said: "We need... a network of countries that can operate in the same way with speed, with precision, with openness because there is not one country that is going to defeat terrorism; it is going to be many countries working together."
No comments:
Post a Comment