26/11 was all-Pakistan affair: Police

The crime branch of the Mumbai Police has named two suspected Pakistani army officers — Colonel R Saadatullah and Khurram Shahdad — among the 35 suspects wanted in connection with the terrorist attack on the city in November last year.

All the wanted suspects are from Pakistan, as were the 10 young men who landed in Mumbai on the evening of November 26 to let loose a reign of terror that lasted 60 hours. Among them are Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives Abu Hafiz, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza, Zarar Shah, and Abu Sanas.

In a summary of the 11,280-page charge-sheet in the sensational attack filed by the crime branch at the Esplanade court on Wednesday, the police gave the addresses of the two suspected army officers and said they “facilitated communication between the dead terrorists and the ‘wanted accused’ while the attack was being unleashed”.

The charge-sheet categorically denied that the attackers had any local help aside from two men — Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin — who are already in the custody of the police. Senior Pakistani officials and politicians like Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had suggested that the attack must have had local support.

Joint commissioner of police (crime) Rakesh Maria, who headed the investigation, said the chargesheet was clear that the planning, training, and logistics for the attacks were provided by entities in Pakistan. These entities extended “local support” to the terrorists by providing maps of important locations, including targets in Mumbai. He said the police would seek the custody of the 35 wanted suspects “as per protocol”.

The charge-sheet gives in detail the sequence of events from the moment the terrorists set sail from Karachi in a fishing trawler.