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Chicago trial puts ISI in spotlight amid Pak terror drama

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON: They go back a long way to the 1970s, buddies and colleagues at a military school, Hasan Abdal Cadet College, in Pakistan. From there, their lives took different trajectories. Tahawwur Hussain Rana went to medical school and became a businessman running a store-front immigration enterprise in Chicago. Daood Gilani, aka David Coleman Headley, dabbled in pubs, drugs, and multiple relationships, and became an informant for US law enforcement. But the two pals rarely lost touch with each other. When Headley was arrested on drug-trafficking charges in 1988 and 1997, Rana put up his house as bond. When Rana ran into financial trouble in 2005, Headley loaned him $ 60,000. Shortly before the Mumbai attack, Headley, with his wife and children, visited the Ranas in Chicago and stayed with them -- for 20 days. How things have changed. This week, the two men will face each other in a courtroom drama in Chicago where their friendship is a minor casualty. The proceedings -- amid a stand-off in between US and Pakistan on terrorism -- are expected to reveal their long-standing ties with the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and its involvement in terrorist activities. Recrimination has begun. "He just thinks about himself," Rana's wife Samraz told a TV news program ahead of her husband's trial, where Headley, who escaped death sentence by agreeing to testify against him, is expected to spill the beans about ISI. Trial proceedings began Monday morning in Chicago's Dirksen Federal Building, where a corruption case against former governor Rod Blagojevich has lately hogged local headlines. But that's changing. An Indian and US media scrum is in place. "This (Rana) case will receive media attention...I will be saying this ad nauseam," Judge Leinenweber told the jurors last week, warning them "not listen to anything about the case, not watch it on TV, or most importantly, refrain from researching it on the internet." Expectedly, many potential jurors cited their reluctance to serve on this jury, mostly indicating their prejudice towards a potential terrorist, towards the Islamic faith, or in one case their preference to be at an Oprah Winfrey Show. But a final jury of 12, with six alternates, is now in place. Interestingly, the jury is composed of a majority of women (8 women, four men), with more than half the jurors also being African-American. Rana was present in court during this entire jury selection process, looking quite affable and relaxed. He smiled occasionally, and even laughed a few times sharing side jokes with his attorneys. Unlike his previous court appearances in the orange prison jumpsuit with handcuffs and shackles, there was a sea change in his appearance; beard trimmed and elegantly attired in a dark gray suit on a white shirt, he looked like a businessman. Had it not been for his shoes that did not have laces, apparently due to security reasons, his appearance was unremarkable.

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