New Delhi, March 20: Asking the Government to “stop pussyfooting” on the David Coleman Headley case, the CPI(M) today said it must immediately seek access to the terror accused. The Manmohan Singh government has “once again shown how unequal the US-India relationship is and the least that the Government of India can do is to demand immediate access to Headley.
The US needs to be told that cooperation has to be reciprocal,” the CPI(M) politburo said. It said Home Minister P Chidambaram knew “very well that extradition is ruled out by the plea bargain.
The UPA government is more concerned about justifying the US stance”. The CPI(M) said it was established that Headley has been an agent for the Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) of the United States and it was also a fact that he had visited Mumbai both before and after the terrorist attack in 2008.
“The attitude of the US authorities suggests that he has been a double-agent. It is inexplicable, therefore, why the UPA government is pussyfooting around the issue with the US administration,” the party Politburo said.
The party asked if access cannot be given to Headley on the grounds that the issue has already gone to court, “why was access not granted earlier when the Indian team was sent to the United States?”
—PTI–