The government on Thursday welcomed Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley's revelations, including that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat, was actually a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative, saying that it was good for the country.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Pakistan has been "exposed" after Headley's revelations, but made it clear that India wants to maintain cordial relations with that country. "David Headley deposition has exposed Pakistan but we still want to maintain cordial relationship with Pakistan," he said.
"Whatever revelations have come, all are good for the Government of India, security agencies and prosecution," MoS for Home Kiren Rijiju said. Rijiju, however, refused to disclose what steps the security and investigating agencies would take after Headley's testimony.
Headley’s testimony over Ishrat has sparked off an acrimonious political debate. Accusing the Congress, the then ruling party at the Centre, of labelling the encounter as fake and politicising the issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded an apology from senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
While the Congress dismissed the BJP’s demand for an apology, insisting that the “fundamental question” was whether Ishrat and her accomplices were killed in a “fake” encounter. The Congress charged the BJP by saying that the Indian law does not permit encounters.
BJP’s secretary Shrikant Sharma said the Congress had hatched a conspiracy by questioning the incident to tarnish the image of the party and the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. “Ishrat Jahan and other terrorists were killed in a police encounter as they were planning to kill Modi and attack religious places in the state. But the erstwhile UPA regime questioned the action and politicised it instead of appreciating the police for killing them,” said Sharma.
Sharma added it was a hate conspiracy against BJP leaders and the Headley’s claim has exposed the people who were objecting to the encounter. The BJP leader also reiterated that several agencies and officers had also termed Ishrat Jahan as a terrorist, but the UPA government ignored the fact and misused investigative agencies to link Modi and the BJP with the episode.
Pointing fingers at the BJP, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said: “If the BJP wants to stand with those who have been accused by the CBI in a Gujarat high court-monitored process that they were accused or complicit in the fake encounter… they can go and stand with them in a Court of Law.”
“There is nothing which stops the BJP from doing that. We are not a banana Republic, we are a country based on the rule of law and the rule of law does not permit fake encounters,” Tewari added. He said there are two distinct issues which are involved – the first is whether Ishrat Jahan and her accomplices were LeT operatives or not.