In a major breakthrough, Bharat has successfully extradited Tahawwur Rana, the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attack, from the US. This remarkable diplomatic victory will further reveal more names involved in the gruesome terror attack. Also, this will expose certain politicians who tried to coin the concocted theory of “saffron terror” to defame Hindus to appease their favourite vote bank. In this background, Retd Indian Army officer and author Colonel Kanwar Khatana, notably known for his book ‘The Game Behind Saffron Terror,’ spoke with Organiser Editor Prafulla Ketkar in an exclusive interview. Excerpt:
How do you see Tahawwur Rana’s extradition and why and how diplomatically or strategically it is important?
Extradition of Tahawwur Rana is very important. Yes, he could have been brought back a little early. For many reasons, the then US administration and the then Indian Government delayed it. But, eventually, it happened. It will help us a lot to unravel the real story. After Kasab, he is the second man we have got back alive. The NIA team had gone and interrogated Headley. But firstly that interrogation report was not made public. Secondly, as I have been given to understand, the then NIA IG, who was part of the interrogation team, was told to change a few portions which he refused and then he was sent back to his parent cadre.
If you see the way these terrorists came into Bharat – they landed by sea. No one stopped them till the time they reached their targets. It’s not possible! Rana will tell us in interrogation, he will give us information on who were his contacts in Bharat, in the criminal and political world, and may be in the police setup, even sleeper cells. Secondly, he is an ex Pakistani Army officer, he and his wife are doctors actually. So possibly, from what we understand, he has been in communication with ISI. He started an immigration service, firstly became a Canadian citizen and then settled in the US, not Canada. He had opened immigration offices in a couple of countries including one in Mumbai. We will know whether it was really an immigration office or a front for conducting intelligence or terror operations. He is a childhood friend of David Headley, he also has contact with Lashkar-e-Taiba. Hedley was trained in LeT camp, so that connection also we will get to know.
The extradition of Abu Salem, from Portugal, was a difficult thing when LK Advani was Home Minister. We could actually pursue this case only after 2018. So diplomatically, how difficult was this?
See, even now the US does not extradite people abroad. They prosecute them themselves and so does Britain. They will never send back a high-profile target because in most of these things, somewhere or the other, you will find the involvement of the US also. They will give you little access like they gave to interrogate David Headley there. He was an informant of Director of Enforcement. So this was actually unexpected. I must say that Foreign Ministry, or rather Dr Jaishankar, has done a fabulous job. It was indeed very difficult.
What was the idea behind this book?
Some things happening in the country pained me a lot. When Col Purohit was branded as a terrorist by ATS, I felt this has gone too far.
From second chapter onwards, the plot of the story suggests it is based somewhere in Pakistan. You are trying to connect three different plots – one is Malegaon, the other is Samjhauta blast and the third in 26/11 attack in Mumbai. How did you try to connect the dots?
It was difficult but not impossible. You talk to people who travel to Pakistan, people who have interrogated terrorists who have come from there, who were trained there, who knew where and how the training happens. It was difficult but doable.
You have talked about the planning that was going on in ISI headquarters. Do you mean to say that post 2002-03, this was a systematic plot by Pakistan to conceive the idea of saffron terror?
David Headley came and stayed here a couple of times. Incidentally, he opened a gym. That is how he used to collect information. He carried out reiki of a number of places including few places in UP. He made friends with Rahul Bhatt to get access to high profile Bollywood. I am very sure he would have had some political context too. The politicians possibly would not have known that he’s working at the behest of ISI. Also David Headley was white, had no accent, so no one knew he was a Pakistani origin man. He made videos. Those videos were discussed at length in ISI headquarters. Then they chose the targets to get maximum coverage in the world media and they achieved their aim.
“David Headley came and stayed here a couple of times. Incidentally, he opened a gym. He carried out reiki of a number of places including few places in UP. He made friends with Rahul Bhatt to get access to high profile Bollywood”
People generally believe that it is only after 2008 that some idea of Hindu terror was conceived…
It was conceived by Shinde, the then Union Home Minister who used ‘saffron terror’ in Parliament. It is in public domain. Congress is not anti-India, but the greed for power culminated into making a dedicated vote bank of Muslims. I believe they knowingly kept Muslims backward because if they become well educated, they would have understood the game, and may not have sided with the Congress.
When we are talking about the attack on RSS headquarters that happened somewhere around Diwali 2005, then Digvijay Singh is talking to officers like Mani or Karkare about Bajrang Dal and VHP and RSS regarding their involvement…
It happened in Home Minister’s office where Mani was present and so was Karkare. I had spoken to Mani also. He was an Under-Secretary then. Karkare was sitting with Digvijay Singh. Mani was told to brief them about some terror activity that had happened (the Nanded blast). So in that he was repeatedly asked to find out if there was an involvement of RSS or Bajrang Dal, basically Hindu outfits. He said, “Nahi sir, aisa kuch bhi nahi tha. He said no, you’re wrong. I don’t want to divulge much but I have my reservations about certain officers of ATS of those times. They became too ambitious and did what they should not have done. If Kasab was not taken alive, 26/11 would have been termed as ‘Hindu terror attack’ and RSS would have been banned.
You have quoted one interesting conversation, “Excellent progress! You are doing a good job! You have a bright future ahead. Lt Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya and Swami Aseemanand were good catches. I hope you are treating them well,” this is Mr Digvijay Singh.
Yes, it’s in public domain. In fact, Digvijay Singh was not holding any position in Government still he was in direct communication every day with few police officers . He himself has accepted it. In what capacity was he doing that? These are the unanswered questions. Even when Mani went to meet Union Home Minister, then also he was not a Minister or holding any Government position. You don’t discuss these things while not holding a position. It’s not done.
Was it just political? Because it didn’t happen accidentally. Two things coming together, on one hand somebody planning from Pakistan and Kasab and company coming with Kalava and portraying themselves as Hindus. On the other, Congress was also trying to brand them Hindus. How did this congruence of interest take place?
The thing is they all had identity cards in the name of Hindus. They all had Kalavas tied around their wrists. They all were expected to die. Another plot was to unfold after their death. Just because Kasab was taken alive this plot was foiled. Thanks to Inspector Tukaram Omble, who was incidentally, ex-Army. It was very difficult to take a terrorist alive but he did. He gave up his life. I feel there would have been tremendous amount of unrest in this society if it was termed as ‘Hindu terror attack’, because lies do not stand for a long time. Ultimately people would know the truth, but before that, some political parties would have achieved their aim of having a little more votes.
But again this is a very curious thing! Because at some level your book suggests that there was a congruence of interest between the way Congress was doing its politics and the way Pakistan was trying to bring in ‘saffron terror’
There was! We had a yearly Home Secretaries meeting, once it was in Bharat, once in Pakistan. That year, it was to happen in Pakistan. One coincidence was that a terror attack happened when there was a meeting in Pakistan, not in Bharat. The Home Secretary, Additional Secretary and a couple of other senior officers were all in Pakistan on 24th if I remember correctly. They were to come back on 25th. The meeting was over but they asked them to go for sightseeing. They were taken to Murree. Now Murree does not have internet connectivity and all that. So they went out of communication. Was it just a coincidence? The union home secretary was out of communication and so were the additional secretary. The decision makers were taken to Murree which is not well connected communication wise.
Why Pakistan was thinking about creating this ‘Hindu terror attack’ thing and why Congress tried to encash it election after election, almost till 2014-15-16?
Two reasons. Firstly, to create a permanent division in Bharatiya society between Hindus and Muslims. Secondly, Mumbai is the financial capital of the country. Terror attacks at this scale happening in financial capital of the country would have deterred investors. So they would have achieved a couple of aims. Congress always tries to take political benefit. Its policy right from 1947 hinged around to have a permanent vote bank. It had a permanent vote bank of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, till Mayawati or Kanshiram happened. Then it went away from them and they could never get that trust back thereafter. They had a permanent vote bank of Muslims for quite some time.
So can we safely say that the saffron terror plot was conceived in Rawalpindi but actually popularised by Congress?
It was conceived in both places for different reasons. Not only conceived, it remains relevant for them even today.
(The article was published first on April 19, 2025)
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