New Delhi:
The personal diary of David Coleman Headley, two pages of which were produced by the US prosecutors as evidence in a court in Chicago, had 34 handwritten mobile numbers of his contacts in Pakistan. These included Major Iqbal and Major Samir- the two ISI Majors, who Headley in his testimony described as the ISI handlers, who coordinated the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.
There were some others on that list who were not involved in the 26/11 attack or had links with terrorist organisations. Among them was Mohd Inam Ul Haq, a real estate dealer, who knew Headley under an alias and remembers him as a wealthy man who could afford an entire building in Lahore's defence area.
NDTV followed the leads in Headley's diary to track Mohd Inam Ul Haq and here's what he said;
NDTV: Hello! Is your name Inam?
Inam: Yes. Mohammad Inam ul Haq.
NDTV: Are you from Islamabad?
Inam: I live in Lahore. I have a real estate business by the name Inam Enterprises.
NDTV: There is a man called David Headley or Daood Gilani. Do you know him?
Inam: I had shown Daood Gilani a plot in K block and then it was sold to him.
NDTV: This is in which area of Lahore?
Inam: This is in the Defence area, phase one. It is a defence related property.
NDTV: How would Gilani look?
Inam: He was very fair.
NDTV: And his demeanour?
Inam: He had a beard, long hair and he would wear salwaar kameez.
NDTV also spoke to Tahir, a man in Lahore who claims to be Headley's brother-in-law.
Tahir : Salaam aalaikum
NDTV: Tahir bhai? Wa alaikum assalaam. How are you?
Tahir: All is well.
NDTV: Your name is Tahir and your number is 3214014011? Is this a Lahore number?
Tahir: Yes
NDTV: Your number is present in David Coleman Headley's diary. Do you know him?
Tahir: No.
NDTV: Do you know Daood Gilani?
Tahir: Yes. He is my relative.
NDTV: How is he related to you?
Tahir: He is my brother in law.
NDTV: In a Chicago court he has confessed he was associated with terrorist organisations.
Tahir: I have read in the newspapers, but not everything you read is true. Without proof I won't believe this. I would not meet him too much. But since we were one family, sometimes we used to meet.
Headley has already pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks.
During his testimony in the 26/11 attack trial in Chicago, Headley said he had received weapons and leadership training in Pakistan from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based terror outfit that India accuses of masterminding and executing the Mumbai attacks. "LeT told me I would be going to India to conduct surveillance," he said. He said in court that it was Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed who "motivated" him by saying, "one second of jihad equals hundred years of prayer".
Indian government sources have told NDTV that Headley's testimony makes the case against ISI stronger and the Pakistani intelligence agency may now be forced to hand over 'Major Iqbal'. His testimony is also crucial as it vindicates what India has been saying all along - that Hafiz Saeed and Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi were the masterminds of the 26/11 attacks, something that Pakistan has been willfully ignoring.
Cases have been filed against Saeed and Lakhvi in the 26/11 trial that is going on in Pakistan courts, but the two still remain free