Extradition approved

The Trump administration has approved the extradition of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack accused, Tahawwur Rana to India. “I am pleased to announce that my administration has approved the extradition of one of the plotters (Tahawwur Rana) and one of the very evil people of the world, having to do with the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack to face justice in India,” President Trump mentioned at the White House while interacting with the media.

“He is going back to India to face justice,” he added. PM Modi appreciated the US’s stand to extradite the terror accused and thanked President Trump for confirming his extradition. “A perpetrator of the Mumbai terror attack is being extradited for his interrogation and trial in India. I thank President Trump for expediting the process.”

This announcement comes after the US Supreme Court on January 21 rejected Rana’s review petition paving the way for his extradition to India. “In view of the recent Supreme Court decision, and consistent with applicable US law, the Department of State is currently evaluating next steps in this case,” the US State Department had said.

“We have long supported India’s efforts to ensure the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks face justice,” the statement added. Pakistani-origin businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana is accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, including six Americans. He has been linked to Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, a key conspirator in the attacks.

He will be interrogated by Indian agencies and face a trial in India. Rana is also accused of having close links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). An over-400-page charge sheet by the Mumbai Police mentions that Tahawwur Hussain Rana came to India on November 11, 2008, and stayed in the country till November 21. He spent two of these days at the Renaissance Hotel in Mumbai’s Powai. Mumbai crime branch had found email communications between Headley and Rana. In one of the emails related to the 26/11 terror attacks, David Headley asked about Major Iqbal’s email id. Major Iqbal, an operative of the Pakistani intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was named as an accused in the 26/11 terror attack case.

Rana was previously prosecuted in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The second superseding indictment charged him with three counts. The jury convicted him on Count 11 (conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism in Denmark). The jury also convicted Rana on Count 12 (providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba).

Crackdown on traffickers

India will take back any verified Indian illegal migrants in the US and will also crack down on human traffickers who exploit vulnerable people, PM Modi has said. India and the US “have always been of the same opinion, and that any verified Indian who is in the US illegally, we are fully prepared to take them back to India”, he said at a news conference that followed bilateral talks with President Trump.

The US sent back about 100 illegal migrants from India on a military plane to Amritsar this month. India reportedly has agreed to take back 18,000 illegal migrants. PM Modi said that he wanted to go beyond repatriation and fight the human traffickers who exploit “the children of very ordinary families” luring them with “big dreams and big promises”.

“A lot of them are brought in without them knowing why they’re going to the country,” he said. “And basically, the young, vulnerable, poor people of India are fooled into coming over as illegal immigrants,” PM Modi added. The Prime Minister called for a joint fight against the menace of human trafficking.

“As far as the US and India are concerned, I think what we should do is make an effort to make sure that we uproot them (traffickers) from within the system so that we can reduce or remove human trafficking,” he said.

As a general principle, he said that illegal migrants have no right to be in a country. It is not a question only about India, but “even globally you can talk about this issue, and we are of the opinion that anybody who enters another country illegally, they have absolutely no right to be in that country,” he said.

India also has a problem with illegal migrants coming in from neighbouring countries.