By Arun Kumar
Washington, Oct 30 (IANS) A top Pakistani diplomat personally knew David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, accused of carrying out a major terror attack in India for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), according to the US investigation agency FBI.

Pakistan’s Consul General in Chicago, Aman Rashid, knew both Rana and Headley alias ‘Daood Gilani’, as all the three went to the same high school, the FBI said in a revised affidavit filed in a Chicago court.

However, the FBI’s revised charge sheet does not say anything about the consul general having any knowledge of or connection to Headley and Rana’s terror conspiracy.

“On or about September 25, 2009, Rana spoke by telephone with the consul general at the Pakistani Consulate in Chicago in an effort to obtain a five-year visa for Headley to travel to Pakistan,” the FBI said.

“It is clear from the email traffic unrelated to terrorist plotting that the consul general knows Rana and Headley personally as all three attended the same high school,” the FBI claimed.

Rana, 48, and Headley, 49, are not only residents of Chicago, but were the products of the same military school.

American national Headley, whose assistance was sought by LeT in planning a major terror attack in India, was helped by his Pakistani-Canadian friend Rana to obtain a visa for Pakistan so that he could travel to the North West Frontier Province for training and meeting the LeT leaders, federal prosecutors have charged.

The charge sheet also indicates that LeT was planning to use Headley for a major terrorist attack in India.

The transcripts of the taped conversations, both email and telephone, reveal that LeT was planning to use Headley for attack on a mysterious Indian actor ‘Rahul’ - which Indian intelligence agencies say could be a code message.

Headley stated that he intended to travel to Pakistan in early October to meet with an unidentified LeT Individual ‘B’ and (Ilyas) Kashmiri, the FBI told the court. It said Headley had already travelled to Pakistan from late January to early March of 2009, during which he visited Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

While it does not identify the high school where the three were students, the FBI told the court that postings to a Yahoo group of graduates of a military school located in the Pakistani town of Hasan Abdal reflected that both Headley and Rana have participated in the group and referred to their attendance at that school.

The group refers to itself as ‘abdalians’, or almuni of Cadet College Hasan Abdal, located in the historic city of Hasan Abdal, some 40 km northwest of Rawalpindi. It is well known for Gurdwara Sri Panja Sahib, one of the most sacred places of Sikhism.