Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States is set to face a few uncomfortable questions in the coming days as the families of victims and one survivor of the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, filed a court case in Brooklyn Federal Court. November 26 is the anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks that took place on the day in 2008, killing more than hundred including U.S. citizens.
The case, first of its kind accusing the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of aiding and abetting Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LeT) in the slaughter of 166 people and the wounding hundreds, is represented by James Kreindler whose law firm successfully sued Libya for billions of dollars on behalf of the 259 passengers blown out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, by a bomb on Pan Am flight 103, and there were 11 people killed on the ground.
Lawyer Kreindler, said the suit may not be politically popular.
“Obviously, Pakistan is an ally of the U.S. in the war in Afghanistan and our efforts to fight Al Qaeda,” Kreindler said.
“We know, however, that I.S.I. has straddled some fences and while Pakistan is certainly cooperating with us, the I.S.I. has used LeT for its own purposes,” he added.
Another attorney, on condition of anonymity told AHN, “The problem is the US has not declared Pakistan or the ISI as a state sponsor of terrorism. So it may be hard to maintain this lawsuit in the US, unless it is converted against individuals who are employed by the ISI.”
“If that happens, it is possible to maintain the suit. The lawyer suing is the same lawyer who had sued the Libya government; so I am sure he knows what to do,” the lawyer added.
According to the 26-page complaint: “The ISI has long nurtured and used international terrorist groups, including LeT, to accomplish its goals and has provided material support to LeT and other international terrorist groups.”
Prominent names included as defendants are: Azam Cheema, LeT’s surveillance or intelligence chief; Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who has been director general of the ISI since September 2008; Nadeem Taj, director general of the ISI from September 2007 until September 2008; Major Iqbal, who “is and was” an ISI officer; and Major Samir Ali, who also “is and was” an ISI officer.
“The ten LeT members who undertook the on-the-ground Mumbai terrorist attack underwent extensive training in the LeT camps in Pakistan,” the complaint stated. “All members of the LeT camps were trained in the use of firearms, explosives and counter-interrogation, and were indoctrinated as to the purported need and justification for suicide attacks.”
Without naming U.S. citizen David Headley as a defendant, the document mentioned him as building a “network of connections” in Chicago, New York, and Pakistan at the “direction and material support” of LeT and ISI.
“In part to fund and facilitate the planned international terror attack, in 2006, Headley and another Chicago-based individual named Tahawur Hussain Rana (‘Rana’) opened an office advertised as ‘First World Immigration’ in Mumbai,” the complaint stated.
“The LeT attackers used AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades and RDX-based explosive devices with the intention to do violence to, terrorize and cause panic amongst their victims,” it added.
Shimon Roseberg, the guardian of a 2-year-old boy Moshe Holtzberg, who was rescued after seeing his parents murdered, sued on the boy’s behalf.
Nachman Holtzberg, Moses Shvarzblat and Maribeth Jeswani also sued on behalf of family members killed in the attacks.
Andreina Varagona, who survived after getting shot in her right arm and leg in the attack, sued on her own behalf.
They sued Lashkar-e Tayyiba and its officers Mohamaed Hafiz Sayeed, Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, Sajid Majid aka Sajir Mir, and Azam Cheema; and the ISI and its officers Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Nadeem Taj, Major Iqbal and Major Samir Ali.
Kreindler said the families seek compensatory and punitive damages for personal injuries, wrongful death and aiding and abetting.
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