The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday clarified that Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a man being extradited from the United States to India in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has no link to Pakistan.
Responding to media queries, MoFA Spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan stated that Rana neither holds Pakistani nationality nor maintains any official ties to the country. “On Tahawwur Rana, we have conveyed our position regarding his Canadian nationality. As far as our record indicates, he did not even apply for renewal of his Pakistani origin documents,” he said. “I reiterate our position; we will give further updates in due course.”
Rana, 64, is a physician by profession. Born in Pakistan, he emigrated to Canada in 1997 and later moved to the United States, where he established a business. He was arrested in 2009 by US authorities for his links to terrorist plots associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.
While a US court acquitted him in 2013 of involvement in the Mumbai attacks, he was convicted of supporting LeT’s plot to target the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which had published blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
India continues to allege Rana’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks, identifying him as a co-accused along with David Headley, a US citizen. Although India has sought the extradition of both men, the United States has only approved Rana’s extradition.
