When 26/11 terror attacks happened, Home secretary Gupta was in Islamabad for talks

New Delhi: When 10 heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists carried out the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, an Indian delegation headed by the then Union Home secretary Madhukar Gupta was in Islamabad for bilateral talks to discuss various issues, including terrorism.

On Thursday, after years of efforts by Indian agencies, key accused in the attacks Tahawwur Hussain Rana has been brought to Delhi from the US to face justice in the case.

On November 26, 2008, when the terrorists reached Mumbai, sailing through the Arabian sea from Pakistan, Gupta was in Islamabad attending bilateral Home secretary-level talks, what was then named as the ‘Composite Dialogue’, sources said.

The Indian delegation concluded the talks with their Pakistani counterparts on November 26. As part of the existing convention, the Indian delegation was supposed to meet Pakistan’s Interior Minister for a courtesy call.

However, the Indian delegation was told that the Pakistani minister was unavailable as he was travelling and they could meet him the next day i.e. on November 27. So the team stayed back, the sources said.

Later on that day (November 26), the Indian delegation was taken to Murree, a picturesque hill station near Islamabad.

That evening, the terrorists attacked Mumbai and carried out the country’s worst terrorist carnage, killing 166 people.

When the news came, Gupta was in regular touch with senior leadership in Delhi from Murree.

The Indian delegation to Pakistan included an additional secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, a joint secretary and a few other officers. The team spent that fateful night in Murree before rushing back to India the next day.

There were speculation at that time that the Indian delegation could have been tricked by Pakistan to extend their stay by a day.

In Gupta’s absence on that fateful day in 2008, the then special secretary (internal security) in the Home ministry M L Kumawat was handling the affairs of the ministry and giving initial instructions to the agencies concerned as advised by the then Union Home minister Shivraj Patil, who later resigned.

Kumawat, an IPS officer, was assisted by then then joint secretary Naveen Verma and a few other officers.

Rana is known to be closely associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the attacks.

‘Rana will definitely get convicted in India’

Mumbai terror attacks accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who is being extradited to India from the US, will definitely get convicted in the country possibly with a death sentence for his involvement in the dastardly terrorist act, former Home secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai said on Thursday.

He said Rana was an associate of David Colemon Headley, who played a much significant role in the 26/11 attacks.

“Rana was the person who set up the immigration office (of his firm) in Mumbai in which David Headley was given the job and then he got a visa to come to India. The cover for Headley was provided by Rana. So, he and Headley were very close and they knew what was happening. So that is something which his interrogation in India will bring out and what Headley had told him,” Pillai told PTI Videos.

He said Rana was not the person who did the survey of the Taj hotel and other places where the terrorists will land.

“All that was done by David Headley. He was the person who came to India, then went to Pakistan and shared all the information. But as a co-conspirator, Rana will definitely get convicted in India and possibly (get) a death sentence or 10 years or more,” said Pillai, who took over as the Home secretary barely six months after the deadliest terror strike.