Tahawwur Rana extradited to India: Pakistan disowns 26/11 accused

Pakistan has distanced itself from Tahawwur Rana, the man accused of aiding the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, by claiming he is no longer a Pakistani national. According to Pakistan’s Foreign Office, Rana, who once served in the Pakistani Army, has not renewed his Pakistani documents in more than 20 years and is now a Canadian citizen.

“He is a Canadian national and as per our record, he has not renewed his Pakistani documents for over two decades,” Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan told reporters in Islamabad on Thursday. While the spokesperson didn’t clarify what specific documents were being referred to, they are typically understood to include passports or overseas identity cards.

Meanwhile, India is preparing to prosecute Rana on its own soil. He landed in Delhi late Wednesday aboard a special military aircraft following his extradition from the United States. The 64-year-old is expected to be arrested immediately by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and will be taken to Tihar Jail, where he will be held in custody.

Rana, born in 1961 in Pakistan, began his career as a doctor in the Pakistani Army before relocating to Canada in the 1990s and eventually becoming a Canadian citizen. His name became infamous due to his alleged role in facilitating the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which left 166 people dead — including six Americans — in a 60-hour siege on some of the city's most iconic locations such as the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, CST railway station, and the Chabad House.

He is closely linked to David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American terrorist currently serving time in a U.S. prison. Headley had testified that Rana provided both financial and logistical support for the Mumbai operation. Indian investigators have long alleged Rana had connections with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), its military, and the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which masterminded the attacks.

Rana was arrested by the FBI in 2009 for plotting a failed terrorist attack on a Danish newspaper and for supporting LeT. Although he was convicted in the U.S. two years later, he managed to delay extradition to India for over a decade through a series of appeals — all of which have now been exhausted.

With his extradition complete, Indian authorities are now set to begin proceedings that may bring long-awaited justice in one of the country’s deadliest terrorist attacks.