Will the Rana trial expose the hand of ISI in terrorism?

New Delhi, May 16: In yet another set back to Pakistan"s role in perpetrating terrorism across the world, the trial on 26/11 conspirator Tahawwur Rana will give away the sinister role of the 'terror country". The trial slated to begin in Chicago on Monday will definitely give more meat to the argument. There are reports suggesting that Rana is likely to implicate Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI for the deadly Mumbai attacks.

The first such trial after the death of dreaded terrorist and al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, and a time when the US-Pak relation have soured, the trial will also pave the way into more tangible insights into the role of the ISI in targeting attacks against India. Rana is considered an accomplice to David Coleman Headley and was also involved in providing material support to terrorists and acting as a cover to Headley in the 2008 Mumbai Terror Attacks.

The actual trail will only begin from May 23, with the jury selection of the high profile hearing starting on Monday that will lay bare the clandestine relation between the militants involved in the Mumbai attacks and the role of the ISI in the same. The case gets prominence especially in the wake of Osama killing that exposed the real face of Pakistan that has always evaded accusations of harbouring terrorists and such elements all this while.

Bruce O Riedel, a terrorism expert at the Brookings Institution and former Central Intelligence Agency officer has called the trail "the next nail in the coffin of US-Pakistan relations, as the ISI's role in the murder of six Americans is revealed in graphic detail."

Headley had earlier revealed that Rana had helped him in scouting for locations in Mumbai to launch attacks and had mentioned his contacts with another al Qaeda militant who was helping him launch an attack on a Danish newspaper that published blasphemous images of the Prophet.

The proceedings of the trail comes at a time when the US-Pak relations have hit an all-time low and with India too joining the bandwagon of pursuing the Mumbai attack perpetrators the findings of the jury will open new perspectives on the role of Pakistan in harbouring terror.

OneIndia News