23 April 2015

In jail memoir, Headley recalls 26/11, LeT training, polygamy

April 23, 2015 

Headley also writes in detail about his decision to join Lashkar “full time” following the 9/11 attacks, and says that by 2002, the group asked him to take “the Daura Aamma, the basic military training course offered by LeT”. 

Pakistani-American LeT terrorist David Headley, serving 35 years in jail for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, has written a memoir in prison detailing how Lashkar’s “dedication” to the cause of “liberation of Kashmir” inspired him to join the terror group. American public affairs TV programme Frontline was given access to a draft of the memoir Headley, 54, wrote in jail. Excerpts from the draft offer a window into Headley’s move towards extremism, his training with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and his preparations for the attack on the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten. 

Recalling the Mumbai terror attack, he writes, “The plan was to capture an Indianfishing vessel, which constantly strayed into Pakistani waters, and commandeer it allthe way to Mumbai. The hope was that the Indian Coast Guard would not notice anIndian vessel. The boys would carry a GPS device which would guide them directly to the landing site I had selected earlier,” he writes.In one of the passages in the memoir, Headley writes about his first encounter with LeT militants. “On one of my trips, October 2000, I made my first contact with LeT, quite by accident. I attended their annual convention… I was very impressed with their dedication to the cause of the liberation of Kashmir from Indian occupation,” Headley writes. Headley also writes in detail about his decision to join Lashkar “full time” following the 9/11 attacks, and says that by 2002, the group asked him to take “the Daura Aamma, the basic military training course offered by LeT”. 

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