A 14-year-old tweet by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X (formerly Twitter) has gone viral after the extradition of Tahawwur Rana — a suspect in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks — from the United States to India. Rana landed in Delhi on Thursday evening, which is a big development in the long-pending case.
The old post, from 2011, criticized the then Congress government's diplomatic approach following a U.S. court verdict in Rana's case. "US declaring Tahawwur Rana innocent in Mumbai attack has disgraced the sovereignty of India & it is a 'major foreign policy setback'," Modi had posted then.
Though the U.S. court acquitted Rana of direct complicity in hatching the plots which took 166 lives, he was convicted of aiding a terror group associated with the bloodshed.
The recent extradition led to a wave of admiration for PM Modi on social media websites. Several users welcomed the Prime Minister's determination and persistence towards justice. "A man of action. A leader who delivers," one user tweeted. Another wrote, "You did it sir!! Kudos and thank you!
The words "Modi hai toh mumkin hai" (If there's PM Modi, everything is possible) rang loudly in reply to the reposted post. Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, commented on X: "He did not forget".
The process leading to Rana’s extradition culminated during PM Modi’s U.S. visit in February this year, where then-President Donald Trump had confirmed that Rana would be handed over to India.
A special flight brought Rana to Delhi late Thursday after he exhausted all legal options in the U.S. to block the move. Upon arrival, he was taken into the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for an 18-day remand.
Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian citizen and a former Pakistani military doctor, is accused of having advance knowledge of the 26/11 attacks and being in touch with the top leaders of Pakistani terror groups.
His position was questioned following revelations by David Coleman Headley, his childhood friend and key accused in the case. Headley, while being interrogated, revealed that Rana not only had knowledge of the intended attacks but also assisted in providing him with cover as he scouted around Mumbai. On a five-year visa organized with Rana's assistance, Headley made several visits to India between 2007 and 2008.
Headley further revealed that he had asked Rana for permission to establish a business office in Mumbai, which was used as a front for their operations. Additionally, he implicated the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as the organization responsible for carrying out the attacks. Interestingly, Rana and his wife had even checked into the Taj Mahal Hotel — one of the key targets of the attack.
Originally given 14 years' imprisonment in 2013, Rana was released in 2020 on medical grounds but was re-arrested in the same year when India formally sought his extradition.
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