Pakistan denies ISI role in Mumbai attack

By Arun Kumar

Washington, (IANS) Pakistan denied the charge of a key plotter of the Mumbai terror attack who said that Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provided support to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for carrying out the 2008 attack.

"This is a completely incorrect statement from him," a spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington said of Pakistani American David Coleman Headley's testimony before a Chicago Federal court Monday at the trial of his one time friend, Pakistan-born Canadian Tahawwur Rana.

"ISI and serving officers did not provide support to David Headley, and ISI had nothing to do with the Mumbai attack," the Pakistani embassy spokesman said. "David was a double agent. He is not a credible witness."

Earlier, Headley, who has pleaded guilty to taking part in planning the rampage to escape the death penalty, told the Chicago court: "ISI provided assistance to Lashkar" through military and financial assistance and moral support."

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)