New Delhi, March 25: Despite US Ambassador Timothy Roemer’s U-turn on David Headley, the Centre stated its position remains unchanged on access to the 26/11-accused and that a team would go to the US to interrogate him.
The Home Ministry has also brought Roemer’s statement to the notice of Solicitor General of India Gopal Subramaniam who met Special Secretary U K Bansal to fine tune the technical requirements to secure access to Headley under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.
Earlier in the day, clarifying Assistant Secretary Robert O Blake Jr’s comments on Indian access to David Headley, Roemer said that though the United States was committed to sharing all information as part of a counter-terror partnership, “no decision on direct access for India to David Headley has been made.” He, however, further said that the US Department of Justice would work with the Government of India regarding the modalities of such cooperation.
“We cannot comment on Mr Roemer’s statement but our position regarding Headley’s access remains unchanged.
“We want to have direct access to Headley in the same manner as we provided the FBI the chance to interrogate Mumbai terrorist Kasab.
What we understand is that the US Attorney General has already concurred to give access to Headley on the basis of plea agreement for which a final date will be decided by a US court,” said highly placed sources.
Referring to “direct access,” sources in the security agencies said this also meant that United States agencies were not comfortable with the thought of Indian sleuths interrogating Headley as it could blow his cover as their secret agent and bring out uncomfortable facts to the fore.
In a telephonic conversation on Friday, US Attorney General Eric Holder drew Home Minister Chidambaram’s attention to a chapter on cooperation of the plea agreement that underlines Headley agreeing (when directed by the US Attorney’s office) to fully and truthfully participate in any debriefings and testify in any foreign judicial proceedings held in the United States by way of deposition.
–Agencies–