Pakistan to interrogate Sajid Mir for his role in 2008 Mumbai terror attacks: Official

Sajid Majeed Mir one of the most wanted terrorists and the main handler of the 2008 Mumbai attacks who was once declared dead by Pakistan will be interrogated by authorities here for his role in the deadly carnage an official said on ThursdayMir 43 a member of the banned LashkareTaiba LeT terrorist group was jailed for over 15 years in a terrorfinancing case by an AntiTerrorism Court ATC in Lahore earlier this month as part of Pakistans bid to exit from the grey list of the FATFA Federal Investigation Agency FIA team will interrogate Mir in Gujranwala jail for his alleged role in the Mumbai Attack case a senior FIA officer associated with the probe of the 2611 case told PTIHe is imprisoned in the Central Jail Gujranwala some 80 km from hereMir has been convicted in a separate terror financing case that has nothing to do with the Mumbai attack caseThe FIA official said Mir was earlier declared a proclaimed offender in this caseMir who allegedly had directed the attackers from Lahore during the siege in Mumbai will also be quizzed for his links with JamaatudDawa JuD chief HafizSaeed and LeT operation commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and financing the attack the official saidThe 2611 case has been pending in the antiterrorism courts in RawalpindiIslamabad since 2009Six arrested suspects Abdul Wajid Mazhar Iqbal Hamad Amin Sadiq Shahid Jamil Riaz Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum are facing charges of abetment to murder attempted murder planning and executing the Mumbai attacks and they are detained at the Adiala Jail RawalpindiThe case proceedings have virtually come to halt for the last many yearsThe FIA said since India has refused to send its 24 witnesses to Pakistan for recording their statements and other evidence the case cannot proceed furtherMumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi are detained at Kot Lapkhapt jail in Lahore serving a term of several years in terror financing cases registered in the Punjab provinceIn November 2008 ten LeT terrorists had sailed into Mumbai from Karachi and carried out coordinated attacks killing 166 people and injuring over 300Nine of the attackers were killed while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught and hanged after a trialMeanwhile Mirs 155 years conviction in a terrorfinancing case registered in the CounterTerrorism Department in Gujranwala has been made on three counts and the sentence will run concurrentlyAccording to the ATC order a copy of which is available with PTI Mir was sentenced to six months seven years and eight years respectively under the AntiTerrorism ActInterestingly Pakistani authorities had earlier claimed that Mir had died but Western countries remained unconvinced and demanded proof of his deathThis issue became a major sticking point in the Financial Action Task Force FATFs assessment of Pakistans progress on the action plan late last year This was where things finally started moving in Mirs case leading to his arrest and prosecutionBefore the last meeting of the FATF Pakistan reportedly told the Parisbased agency that it had arrested and prosecuted Mir in order to seek its removal from the FATFs grey listLahoreborn Mir is mostly known for his alleged role in planning and executing the Mumbai terror attacks He reportedly spent two years carrying out reconnaissance and scouting targets in MumbaiHe did this with the help of David Coleman Headley an American terrorist who is currently serving a 35year sentence in the US for his involvement in international terrorismMirs association with Saeed dates back to 1994 when he was just 15 He then rose in the LeTs ranks and became associated with its international operations wingMir reportedly remained the deputy chief of LeTs international operations He was also linked up with alQaeda while conducting international operationsIn 2005 he had secretly visited India with a fake passport He posed himself as a cricket fan to watch a match between India and Pakistan On that occasion he remained in India for about 15 daysAccording to reports Mirs name started featuring on the international terrorism landscape as early as 2002 when he attempted to make large military equipment purchases from the US with the help of his Virginiabased accomplicesHowever that project came to an end when the FBI arrested 11 people in what became to be known as the Virginia Paintball Jihadi case Ten of them were jailedHe later turned towards Australia In 2003 he planned attacks in Australia with the help of a French national Willie Brigitte and an Australian Faheem Khalid Lodhi for Australian troop presence in AfghanistanMir then focussed on the Mumbai attacks Later in 2009 Mir collaborated with Headley on an aborted plan to attack a newspaper office in Copenhagen DenmarkMir who had a bounty of USD 5 million on his arrest is on Indias mostwanted list for his role in 2611