ISI handler trained me in Lahore: David Headley

The report quoted Headley as saying that ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha later went to see Lashkar military chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in custody. “Pasha had visited him to understand the Mumbai attack conspiracy.”

In its lead story ‘Mumbai case offers rare picture of ties between Pakistan’s intelligence service,militants’,ProPublica said Headley began a direct relationship with ISI officers in January 2006 after Pakistani authorities briefly detained him for trying to smuggle arms into India,according to his account.

An ISI officer named Major Samir Ali interviewed the American,then referred him to a Major Iqbal,who became his main handler in Lahore. Major Iqbal,described as fat,deep-voiced and in his mid-thirties,introduced Headley to a man identified as Lieutenant Colonel Shah,who promised Headley financial support for terrorist operations against India.

“At subsequent meetings in safe houses,Major Iqbal gave Headley secret documents on India. He assigned a non-commissioned officer to give the American standard intelligence training. Headley learned techniques for detecting surveillance,developing sources and other skills,then practiced with the lower-ranking officer on the streets of Lahore. The specialised training lasted several months and continued intermittently afterward as Major Iqbal taught Headley how to use cameras and other devices for missions,” ProPublica quoted the report.

“I became close to Major Iqbal,” Headley told interrogators. “The training given by this NCO under the guidance of Major Iqbal was much more scientific and effective than the trainings I did in the LeT camps.”