Former National Security Advisor Mahmud Ali Durrani, who was sacked for identifying the lone surviving Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasab as a Pakistani, has said the
decision was made after consultations with all top officials, including the ISI chief.
“I am not a fool. Before giving the statement, I consulted all relevant quarters,” Mr Durrani said.
Mr Durrani was fired by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani shortly after he identified Kasab as a Pakistani, said he made the decision on his own but after consulting all important officials, including ISI top boss, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
“I did not issue the statement on his (Pasha’s) directive. However, I did consult him and there was an understanding between the two of us that the identity of Kasab should be revealed as most people were already aware of it,” Mr Durrani, who was sacked in January 2009, told Dawn News.
In reply to a question whether he felt he was made a scapegoat, Mr Durrani said Mr Gilani was a “peer saint” — a reference to the Premier’s links to a spiritual family — who issued a “royal order without even listening to me”.
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Rana trial set for today
Chicago, May 22: In perhaps the most important terrorism trial ever to be held here, Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a co-accused in the Mumbai attack case is expected to spill the beans on ISI’s role in the terror strike.
The arguments in the trial of Rana, co-accused with Pakistani-American David Headley in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, will be heard by a 12-member jury on Monday.
The jurors have been selected from a pool of possible 38, and sworn-in after being questioned by US district court Judge Harry D. Leinenweber about their understanding and views on Islam, citizenship and terrorism. —PTI