NEW DELHI: Congress on Thursday credited “a decade-and-a-half of painstaking diplomatic, legal, and intelligence efforts” for the extradition of 26/11 plotter Tahawwur Rana.
In a statement, veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government of taking undue credit for the culmination of institutional diplomacy, legal groundwork, and international cooperation set in motion in 2009.
“I am glad that Tahawwur Hussain Rana, one of the key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was extradited to India on April 10, 2025, but the full story deserves to be told. While the Modi government is rushing to take credit for this development, the truth is far from their spin. This extradition is the culmination of a decade-and-a-half of painstaking diplomatic, legal, and intelligence efforts which were initiated, led, and sustained by the UPA government in close coordination with the United States,” the statement read.
“The groundwork began on November 11, 2009, when the NIA registered a case in New Delhi against David Coleman Headley (US citizen), Tahawwur Rana (Canadian citizen), and others involved in the 26/11 conspiracy. That very month, Canada’s Foreign Minister confirmed collaboration with Indian agencies, thanks to UPA’s effective foreign policy. The FBI had arrested Rana in Chicago in 2009 for supporting a failed LeT plot in Copenhagen. Even though Rana was acquitted by a US court of direct involvement in the 26/11 attack in June 2011, he was convicted for other terrorism-related offences and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The UPA government publicly expressed its disappointment over his acquittal and kept diplomatic pressure alive,” he added.
Chidambaram further claimed that the Modi government did not initiate this process and merely benefitted from the mature, consistent, and strategic diplomacy begun under the UPA.
“Let the facts be clear: the Modi government did not initiate this process, nor did it secure any new breakthrough. It merely benefitted from the mature, consistent, and strategic diplomacy begun under the UPA. This extradition is not the result of any grandstanding; it is a testament to what the Indian state can achieve when diplomacy, law enforcement, and international cooperation are pursued sincerely and without any kind of chest-thumping,” Chidambaram said.
Rana’s transfer from the United States to Delhi is underway. Upon arrival in India, he is expected to be housed in Tihar jail.
The 64-year-old Canadian citizen, born in Pakistan, is known to have close ties with David Coleman Headley (also known as Daood Gilani), a US national who was a primary plotter in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
His extradition to India proceeds after the US Supreme Court dismissed his final appeal to prevent the transfer. So far, only Ajmal Kasab, the sole LeT terrorist involved in the 26/11 rampage who was nabbed alive, has been prosecuted.
