The American Terrorist

By Manuwant Choudhary

One more hanging in India - Afzal Guru hanged in secrecy in New Delhi's Tihar jail - and the Indian government wants us to believe that it is serious in tackling terror suspects and one would like to believe so but the governments response to the 35 year sentence to David Coleman Headley has been muted.

Is it so because Headley is an American terrorist?

It also exposes the United States governments own convictions in fighting terror.

Remember George Bush proclaiming they will find the terrorists anywhere in the world...

But this time the terrorist is on their own soil.

And the judge noted the different response the US government had in dealing with this dreaded terrorist.

Double standards in trying a double-agent.

And the Indian government too has soft-pedalled the issue....like the external affairs minister Salman Khurshid belatedly sent an extradition demand just a few months ago and that too half-heartedly.

Thats not how you fight terror.

The latest issue of Open magazine has an interesting story Headley's Mark about Rahul Bhatts friendship with David Headley...how they met, where they went and what they talked about.

His hunch that Headley was a CIA agent and how Headley would pretend he does not understand Hindi or the expletives being used at a Bombay hotel by Vilas Warak, a fitness instructor, who introduced them.

It also talks about how Headley liked Rahul and even warned him not to go to south Bombay on November 26 !

Rahul has already written a book `Headley and I', the movie rights booked.

Rahuls entry into Bollywood is eerie and how...

His father Mahesh Bhatt once offered him a role and the film would be called `The Blue Film', Rahul declined the offer.

He talks about how his father wanted to name him Mohammed but his mother and neighbours prevailed. Mahesh Bhatt says he shudders to think what would have happened to his son if he had been called Mohammed Bhatt !."