Headley’s revelation on Ishrat Jahan triggers political storm, BJP slams Sonia, Nitish

David Headley’s confession that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative has embarrassed Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar with the BJP taking a dig at him for using Ishrat’s killing as an issue during then Bihar polls by terming her a ‘Bihar ki beti’.

BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli noted that LeT had portrayed her as a “martyr” on its website but “government agencies at that time were put at war with each other and attempts were made at fixing individuals… instead of finding the truth”.

Headley, during his deposition in Mumbai court in the 26/11 attack case, said that Ishrat Jahan –who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat–was actually a suicide bomber of Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit.

Read Also: Ishrat Jahan was LeT operative, says Headley in Mumbai court

Leading the attack on opposition leaders for trying to ‘fool the people’, Home Minister Rajnath Singh also led the clarion call for the Congress and other parties to apologise. “You must have heard what David Headley has just said in Court, that Ishrat Jahan was a suicide bomber. Ishrat Jahan regarding whom so many accusations were cast on our leaders. Tell me, will the accusing political parties now apologise to the nation for trying to fool the people?” said Rajnath.

Congress, however, dismissed BJP’s demand for an apology, insisting that the “fundamental question” was whether she and her accomplices were killed in “fake” encounter. “If BJP wants to stand with those who have been accused by the CBI in a Gujarat High Court monitored process that they were accused or complicit in the fake encounter,… they can go and stand with them in a Court of Law.”

“There is nothing which stops BJP from doing that. We are not a banana Republic, we are a country based on the rule of law and the rule of law does not permit fake encounters,” party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.

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