India tightens visa policy for Pakistani Americans

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Applications to be cleared by Home Ministry in New Delhi instead of embassy in Washington, consulates in New York, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: As an immediate fallout of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) foiling a Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT) plot to use US nationals to carry out major terror attacks in India, the Indian embassy in Washington has tightened visa approval norms for Pakistan-born American citizens, whose applications would now have to be cleared by the Home Ministry in New Delhi.

The FBI had arrested a Pakistan-born US national, David Coleman Headley, last month for allegedly conspiring attacks against India.

Clearance: Union Home Secretary GK Pillai has issued instructions in this regard, according to which all applications for Indian visa from Pakistani-born US nationals would now be processed and cleared by New Delhi.

Besides the Indian embassy in Washington, the Indian consulates in New York, Houston, Chicago and San Francisco also issue Indian visas.

FBI chief Robert Mueller will be visiting India next week to investigate Headley’s links with LT in India. Mueller, who will be heading a team of investigators, would probe Headley’s network in India and also establish his links with the LT, intelligence officials said. Information provided by the FBI has revealed that Headley operated a visa agency in Mumbai for almost two years until July 2008 and had travelled to India on business visas nine times between 2006 and 2009.

“They might be travelling to some of cities where Headley visited while he was here. Since a Chicago court has given a 60-day deadline to the FBI to complete its investigations in the case and file an indictment, they want to move fast in the case,” said an intelligence official.

Headley and his alleged accomplice, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, are being held on charges of plotting attacks in India at the behest of the LT.

Intelligence shared by the FBI following the interrogation of Headley revealed that two of India’s most prestigious boarding schools – Doon in Dehradun and Woodstock in Mussoorie - and the National Defence College in New Delhi were supposed targets of the LT.

A team of intelligence officials from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Intelligence Bureau had flown to Washington on November 1 to question Headley.

The team was keen to find out if Headley was in touch with the masterminds of the LT and if he had attended any of the training camps the 10 Pakistan-based terrorists went through for the Mumbai attacks. But apparently, objections from the lawyer of the accused, questioning a foreign agency’s involvement in the interrogation, came in the way.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg7_12