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India happy with progress on access to Headley

By IANS,

New Delhi: India is satisfied with the progress of talks with the US over access to Pakistan-American terror suspect David Headley, who is linked to the Mumbai terror attack, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said Sunday.

“We are satisfied with the progress these negotiations have made,” Rao told the media here, referring to the activist of the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

She pointed out that there had been good cooperation between India and the US in counter terrorism, adding that Indian agencies and the home ministry were in talks with their US counterparts over access to Headley.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram has stated repeatedly that it wanted access to Headley, who scouted for locations in Mumbai and other places in India for the LeT to attack.

Robert Blake, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Friday said that while the US was committed to “full information sharing”, no decision had been made on direct access to Headley for Indian investigators.

“And you know, the US Department of Justice is working with the government of India to discuss the modalities for such cooperation. But again, no decision has been made on that,” he said.

Ten Pakistani terrorists belonging to the LeT sneaked into Mumbai in November 2008 and went on a killing spree, leaving 166 foreigners as well as Indians dead.