By Admin 
Chidambarama on tahawwur rana extradition: Former Union Home Minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram has given a statement on the extradition of Tahwwur Rana, saying that I am happy that Tawwur Hussain Rana, one of the main accused of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was extradited to India on April 10, 2025, but it is necessary to tell the whole story. While the Modi government is competing to take credit for this development, the truth is far from their claims.
He said that this extradition is a result of hard, hard working and strategic diplomacy of one and a half decade, which, the beginning, leadership and continuity of which the UPA government ensured coordinating with the US. P Chidambaram said that the first major action in this direction took place on 11 November 2009, when the NIA filed a case against David Coleman Headley (American citizen), Tawwur Rana (Canadian citizen) and others in New Delhi. In the same month, the Foreign Minister of Canada confirmed intelligence cooperation with India, which was the direct result of the efficient foreign policy of the UPA government.
‘UPA government maintained pressure’
The Congress leader further said, the FBI arrested Rana from Chicago in 2009, when he was helping Lashkar-e-Taiba in a conspiracy for a failed terrorist attack in Copenhagen. Although in June 2011, the US court acquitted him of the accusation of directly involved in the 26/11 attack, he was convicted in other terrorist conspiracies and sentenced him to 14 years. The UPA government publicly expressed disappointment on this decision and maintained code-power pressure.
‘NIA team went to America for questioning Headley before 2011’
Chidambaram further said that despite the legal hurdles, the UPA government continued continuously through institutional diplomacy and legal processes. Before the end of 2011, a three -member team of NIA went to America and questioned Headley. Under the mutual legal aid Treaty (MLAT), the US handed over the important evidence of investigation to India, who became part of the NIA charge sheet in December 2011. The NIA special court issued non-bailable warrants and also issued Interpol Red notices against the absconding accused. All this was not for showing, but part of serious and disciplined legal diplomacy.
Chidambaram said that in 2012, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai firmly demanded Rana and Headley’s extradition to US State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Under Secretary Wendy Sherman. By January 2013, Headley and Rana had been sentenced. The UPA government expressed displeasure over Headley’s punishment and reiterated the demand for extradition. Nirupama Rao, the then Ambassador of India to the US, continuously raised the issue to the US administration. This was an ideal example of handling sensitive matters related to international justice in a diplomatic methods.
What happened after changing the government in 2014?
Chidambaram said that even after changing the government in 2014, the process that was going on, lived due to the institutional initiative started during the UPA government. In 2015, Headley offered to become a government witness. In 2016, the Mumbai court gave him a pardon, which strengthened the case against Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Judal. In December 2018, the NIA team went to the US to resolve the legal obstacles related to extradition and in January 2019 it was told that Rana would have to complete his sentence in America. Rana’s release date was fixed at 2023, in which the period of prison already was added. This was not a quick action of the “strong leader”, but the process of justice moving beyond the hard work of years.
He said that when Rana was released on health basis in June 2020, the Government of India immediately sought his extradition. The Biden administration supported India’s request. In May 2023, the US court justified India’s request. Rana filed several petitions against it, including a petition in the US Supreme Court on the basis of Habius Corpus and Double Geopardy. All these petitions were dismissed. The final rejection took place on 21 January 2025, the next day of Donald Trump’s swearing in.
‘Modi government is taking credit’
P Chidambaram, accusing the Modi government of taking credit for this, said that in February 2025, Prime Minister Modi and President Trump stood in a press conference and trying to take credit for the whole matter but the truth is that this achievement is the foundation of the years old UPA government and the hard work done. By 17 February, Indian officials confirmed that Rana was involved in the 26/11 conspiracy with Lashkar and ISI since 2005. Finally on 8 April 2025, US officials handed Rana to Indian agencies, and he reached New Delhi on 10 April.
In his statement, former Home Minister P Chidambaram further said that know the facts clearly: The Modi government neither started this process nor achieved any new success. She is taking advantage of the institutional structure only, which was created by the UPA government with years of hard work, understanding and diplomatic foresight. This extradition is not a victory for any propaganda, but a proof that when the Indian state works with honesty, seriousness and international cooperation, it can also make the world’s most complex criminals in the dock of law.
Also read: Case on 26/11 criminals will run in India, it will be punished here, but the condition of US court like Abu Salem will be made