Mumbai attacks: India questions Pakistan-born Canadian accused after extradition

Mumbai attacks: India questions Pakistan-born Canadian accused after extradition
Police convoy carries Tahawwur Rana, 64, a Pakistani-born Canadian doctor-turned-businessman, accused of helping to orchestrate the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, in New Delhi, India, on April 10, 2025. (REUTERS)
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Updated 12 April 2025
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Mumbai attacks: India questions Pakistan-born Canadian accused after extradition

Mumbai attacks: India questions Pakistan-born Canadian accused after extradition
  • India accuses Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 66, of being one of the key plotters of the 2008 Mumbai attacks
  • Pakistan has distanced itself from Rana, saying he hasn’t renewed his Pakistani-origin documents in two decades

NEW DELHI: Indian investigative agencies on Friday questioned a man they extradited from the United States and charged with being a “mastermind” of the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege.

India accuses Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 66, of being a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, designated by the United Nations as a “terrorist” organization.

Rana, a Pakistan-born Canadian, has denied all charges — including waging war against India, conspiring to commit murder and acts of “terrorism.” He could face the death penalty if convicted.
New Delhi blamed the LeT group — as well as intelligence officials from New Delhi’s arch-enemy Pakistan — for the 2008 Mumbai attacks when 10 gunmen carried out a multi-day siege of the country’s financial capital.

Nine of the attackers died in the siege, while one captured alive was tried and hanged.
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), which accuses Rana of being the attack’s “mastermind,” took him into custody under heavy guard after he arrived in a special flight to the capital New Delhi on Thursday evening.

“Rana will remain in custody for 18 days, during which the agency will question him in detail in order to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the deadly 2008 attacks,” NIA said.

Rana, who served in the Pakistani army’s medical corps, faces 10 criminal charges including conspiracy, murder, commission of a “terrorist” act, and forgery.

Rana, who has denied the charges, is accused by India of helping his long-term friend, David Coleman Headley, who was sentenced by a US court in 2013 to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to aiding LeT militants, including by scouting target locations in Mumbai.

Rana is accused of playing a smaller role than Headley, but India maintains he is one of the key plotters.

He was flown to India after the US Supreme Court this month rejected his bid to remain in the United States, where he was serving a 14-year sentence related to another LeT-linked attack.

India released a photograph of Rana arriving in Delhi, taken from his back, dressed in a brown jumpsuit and guarded by NIA officers.

India also accused Pakistan of direct involvement in the Mumbai attack and Rana of having connections with its intelligence agencies, charges Islamabad denies.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali said that Rana “did not apply to renew Pakistani documents over the past two decades.”


Pakistani and Indian NSAs established contact after New Delhi’s missile strike — Ishaq Dar

Pakistani and Indian NSAs established contact after New Delhi’s missile strike — Ishaq Dar
Updated 28 sec ago
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Pakistani and Indian NSAs established contact after New Delhi’s missile strike — Ishaq Dar

Pakistani and Indian NSAs established contact after New Delhi’s missile strike — Ishaq Dar
  • The Pakistani deputy PM tells a foreign news outlet India’s actions are ‘not condonable’
  • He does not disclose what the NSAs discussed, but Pakistan has vowed to avenge the attack

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and Indian national security advisers established contact after New Delhi’s missile strikes on Pakistan killed at least 31 people, Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday, marking a rare official communication between the nuclear-armed rivals.
India said it launched the strikes targeting what it described as “terrorist infrastructure” inside Pakistan following a deadly assault on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam area, which it blamed on Pakistan despite Islamabad’s denials.
Pakistan said it shot down five Indian fighter jets and destroyed several border posts in the military clash that followed. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the Indian missile attacks a “grave mistake” and warned that New Delhi “will have to face consequences.”
In an interview with TRT World, the Pakistani deputy premier said India had done something that “is not condonable.”
“[Dar] confirmed that both a Pakistani national security adviser and Indian national security adviser spoke to each other after last night’s Indian missile strikes in Pakistan, as well as Pakistani-administered Kashmir and then Pakistan’s response, in which Pakistan said that five Indian fighter jets were shot down,” a TRT correspondent in Islamabad reported after the interview.
“However, he did not provide further details, but some people interpret that given the fact that now both sides have established contacts at the level of national security advisers, this means that some form of effort is underway to de-escalate tensions,” he added.
Pakistan recently named Lt. Gen. Muhammad Asim Malik, the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), as its National Security Adviser, while his Indian counterpart is Ajit Doval.
The two countries have rarely maintained high-level official contacts in recent years. Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties after India revoked the special constitutional status of the disputed Kashmir region in 2019 to integrate it with the rest of the Indian union.
The rivals, who have fought multiple wars over the Himalayan region they both claim in full but control in parts, also expelled each other’s diplomats following the recent Pahalgam attack.
It is not clear what the two NSAs discussed during their call, but Pakistan has vowed to retaliate after the missile strikes.


Pakistan sets up Hajj flight helpline as India-Pakistan tensions disrupt air travel

Pakistan sets up Hajj flight helpline as India-Pakistan tensions disrupt air travel
Updated 55 min 9 sec ago
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Pakistan sets up Hajj flight helpline as India-Pakistan tensions disrupt air travel

Pakistan sets up Hajj flight helpline as India-Pakistan tensions disrupt air travel
  • Government has temporarily suspended flight operations at Karachi, Lahore and Sialkot airports
  • Local Pakistani media has reported blasts in Lahore, attributing them to suspected drone attacks

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry has launched a 24-hour helpline to assist Hajj pilgrims seeking updates on flight schedules, an official statement said on Thursday, as the country faces widespread air travel disruptions linked to escalating military tensions with India.

The measures follow a sharp military escalation between Pakistan and India in the early hours of Wednesday after Indian missile strikes killed at least 31 civilians in Pakistani territory.

Pakistan’s military responded by downing five Indian fighter jets, while Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suspended all flights for 12 hours and several Asian carriers rerouted flights to avoid the region’s airspace.

“The help desk will operate 24 hours a day in two shifts,” the statement said while sharing the telephone numbers. “Hajj pilgrims can obtain information regarding their flights.”

Pakistan also announced it had temporarily suspended flight operations at Karachi, Lahore, and Sialkot airports, citing “national security” concerns.

Pakistan’s Geo News reported blasts in the eastern border city of Lahore, attributing them to suspected drone attacks, though police were still investigating the nature of the explosions.

Tensions continue to remain high between the two South Asian nuclear rivals, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described India’s missile attacks as a “grave mistake” in a speech on Wednesday night, saying New Delhi “will have to face consequences.”

The Indian army also said on Thursday the two neighboring states exchanged small arms and artillery fire overnight along their de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region split between the two countries.


Trump tells India and Pakistan to ‘stop’ clashes

Trump tells India and Pakistan to ‘stop’ clashes
Updated 55 min 45 sec ago
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Trump tells India and Pakistan to ‘stop’ clashes

Trump tells India and Pakistan to ‘stop’ clashes
  • The US president initially played down the crisis as part of old tensions between India and Pakistan
  • His administration has scrambled into action in the last 24 hours since the Indian strikes in Pakistan

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump called Wednesday for India and Pakistan to immediately halt their fighting, and offered to help end the worst violence between the nuclear-armed countries in two decades.
“It’s so terrible,” Trump said at the White House. “I get along with both, I know both very well, and I want to see them work it out. I want to see them stop.
“They’ve gone tit-for-tat, so hopefully they can stop now.”
Trump’s comments came as India and Pakistan exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier, after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival.
At least 31 deaths were reported in the fighting, which came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied.
Pakistan has long been a key US military ally but Trump has been keen to build up relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he hosted at the White House in February.
“We get along with both countries very well, good relationships with both, and I want to see it stop,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
“And if I can do anything to help, I will be there.”
Trump initially played down the crisis as part of old tensions between India and Pakistan — even saying they had been at odds for 1,500 years, despite the two countries only forming after independence from Britain in 1947.
But his administration has scrambled into action in the last 24 hours since the Indian strikes.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to his counterparts from India and Pakistan on Friday, encouraging them to reopen dialogue to “defuse” the situation, the White House said.
 


Peace in South Asia to remain ‘a dream’ until Kashmir dispute is resolved— ex-Pakistan FM

Peace in South Asia to remain ‘a dream’ until Kashmir dispute is resolved— ex-Pakistan FM
Updated 53 min 16 sec ago
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Peace in South Asia to remain ‘a dream’ until Kashmir dispute is resolved— ex-Pakistan FM

Peace in South Asia to remain ‘a dream’ until Kashmir dispute is resolved— ex-Pakistan FM
  • Tensions between New Delhi, Islamabad soar after India’s strikes in Pakistani territory kill 31
  • Any sovereign nation would have no choice but to respond, says Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari this week said peace in South Asia will remain “but a dream” unless India and Pakistan resolve the issue of Kashmir, as tensions soared between the two nuclear-armed neighbors following India’s missile strikes in Pakistani territory. 

Bhutto-Zardari’s comments follow surging tensions between India and Pakistan after the former conducted missile strikes into the latter’s territory late Wednesday night, which Pakistan said killed 31 and injured 57. The Indian government said it struck nine Pakistani “terrorist infrastructure” sites involved in planning a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22. The assault took place on the tourist hill station of Pahalgam in the part of Kashmir governed by India, with 26 men killed.

The Pakistani military said six locations across its territory — Ahmedpur East, Muridke, Sialkot, Shakargarh in the eastern province of Punjab and Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir — were targeted. Azad Kashmir is the part of the disputed Kashmir valley that is administered by Pakistan. In response, Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry had said five Indian planes and one combat drone that had attacked Pakistan were shot down, naming three Rafales and an MiG-29 and Su-57 each.

India and Pakistan have fought two out of three wars over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. Both countries claim the territory in full but administer only parts of it. India accuses Pakistan of arming separatist militants in the part of Kashmir it governs, which Pakistan denies. Islamabad says it only extends moral and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir. 

“This [Kashmir] is a disputed territory,” Bhutto-Zardari, who is also the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, a key government coalition ally, told Arab News during an exclusive interview on Wednesday. 

“This is a dispute that India took to the United Nations. And until we get to the root cause, until we find a solution to the Kashmir question, until then I believe that peace in South Asia will be but a dream.”

Bhutto-Zardari said Pakistan had called for a credible, international probe into the Pahalgam attack. However, he rejected India had leveled unfounded allegations at Pakistan “without any supporting evidence.”

“All over the world it is known you’re innocent until proved guilty,” the PPP leader said. “Accuse me of a crime but produce the evidence and at least have a trial.”

He criticized the Indian government for becoming “judge, jury and executioner,” adding that its military strikes had targeted innocent civilians and children.

“They violated Pakistan’s sovereign territory,” the former foreign minister said. “Any sovereign nation on the planet would have no choice but to respond in such a circumstance.”

Pakistan has vowed that it has the right to respond to India’s military strikes as per international law. During his address to the nation on Wednesday night, Sharif warned India it would have to “pay the price” for striking Pakistan. His office said earlier on Wednesday that the country’s top national security body had authorized its armed forces to take “corresponding actions” in response to Indian strikes. 


Pakistani parties rally in Karachi to protest India’s missile strikes 

Pakistani parties rally in Karachi to protest India’s missile strikes 
Updated 07 May 2025
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Pakistani parties rally in Karachi to protest India’s missile strikes 

Pakistani parties rally in Karachi to protest India’s missile strikes 
  • Sindh chief minister leads rally featuring participation from PPP, ANP, MQM-P and JI parties 
  • Political parties’ leaders praise Pakistan’s armed forces for retaliating to Indian missile strikes

KARACHI: In a rare display of unity, major Pakistani political parties rallied in the southern port city of Karachi on Wednesday to vehemently protest India’s missile strikes that killed 31 people and injured 57. 

In the sharpest military escalation in more than two decades between the nuclear-armed rivals, the Indian government said it struck nine Pakistani “terrorist infrastructure” sites involved in planning a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22. The assault took place on the tourist hill station of Pahalgam in the part of Kashmir governed by India, with 26 men killed.

The Pakistani military said six locations across its territory — Ahmedpur East, Muridke, Sialkot, Shakargarh in the eastern province of Punjab and Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir — were targeted. Azad Kashmir is the part of the disputed Kashmir valley that is administered by Pakistan. In response, Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said five Indian planes and one combat drone that had attacked Pakistan were shot down, naming three Rafales and an MiG-29 and Su-57 each.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah led the rally at the Karachi Press Club, which featured participation from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) parties. 

“Within just ten minutes, Pakistan was blamed without any investigation,” Shah told participants of the rally, referring to India’s accusations that Islamabad was involved in the Pahalgam attack.

The chief minister accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he referred to as the “Butcher of Gujarat,” for orchestrating the recent events to divert attention from domestic issues. 

“India rejected these gestures for peace and instead launched nighttime attacks on six separate locations, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians,” he noted. 

He lauded Pakistan’s armed forces for giving a befitting response to Indian military strikes. 

“The Pakistan Air Force shot down five Indian aircraft and a drone,” Shah said. “We held back only to avoid escalation; otherwise, not a single Indian jet would have survived.”

Monem Zafar, the chief of the JI’s Karachi chapter, agreed with Shah that the rally was a demonstration of political unity amid the crisis. 

“The message to India and Modi is that the entire Pakistani nation strongly condemns this attack,” he said. “The nation stands with the Pakistan Army for the protection of the country.”

Zafar called on the nation to observe the coming Friday as a “Day of Resolve” to demonstrate national support for the armed forces.