The possible first step towards the new era of "domestic terrorist", Pointing the finger at the American people and blaming them for "terrorist activity".

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091208/wl_sthasia_afp/indiaattacksusp...

MUMBAI (AFP) – Ever since his arrest in Chicago in October, India has been gripped by the case of David Headley, a Pakistani-American man who is alleged to have helped plan last year's deadly attacks on Mumbai.

The plot, according to the media in India, reads like a movie thriller: a well-built fitness fanatic and white, Muslim convert befriends Bollywood stars, using an alias and visa business as cover as he scouts out possible targets.

He then reports back in coded emails to shadowy Pakistani agents directing operations, preparing for the high-profile strike that would kill 166 people, including 25 foreigners, sending shockwaves around the world.

With Headley now facing charges in the United States, Indian security analysts believe the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) could have found the vital missing link to the November 26 attacks on India's financial capital.

The question about whether the 10 heavily-armed gunmen had specialist help to land undetected by sea and strike their targets with such precision has been posed ever since the attacks.

"Just knowing the US system, it's profoundly unlikely that they would have charged him (Headley) without material evidence," terrorism analyst Praveen Swami told AFP.

"There's a mass of evidence that suggests he did go around Mumbai collecting information," added Swami, associate editor at The Hindu newspaper.

Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute of Conflict Management, agreed, suggesting Headley assumed "a very significant role" in the attacks.

The US Department of Justice said Headley made five trips to Mumbai from September 2006 to July 2008, "each time taking pictures and making videotapes of various targets, including those attacked in November 2008".

During those trips he reportedly befriended the gym instructor son of a Bollywood director, met a top actor and dated an actress, staying in an expat enclave in south Mumbai near the US Consulate so as not to arouse suspicion.

He is also said to have stayed at one of the targets -- the luxury Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel -- and posed as a Jew to get detailed plans of the inside of a Jewish cultural and religious centre that was also stormed.

Some reports suggested the Washington-born son of a former Pakistani diplomat, who allegedly changed his name from Daood Gilani, also travelled to other cities and the resort state of Goa to set up sleeper cells.

Sahni said the charges against Headley -- plus a Pakistan-born Canadian and a retired Pakistan army major -- highlights not only the involvement of the banned Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) but its links to state actors.

"It's never been so clear," added Sahni, who is also editor of the South Asia Intelligence Review.

"If you put it in front of an American court and it stands up to scrutiny, then we have got something that we never had against Pakistan before.

"Everyone knows what Pakistan is doing. The whole game of deniability is no longer credible. This is something that will put more pressure on Pakistan than any other single development."

But both experts suggested the charges against Headley, who has told the FBI that he had been working with the LeT since before 2006, could raise questions about the supposed role played by two Indians on trial in Mumbai.

The two men, who are standing trial alongside the lone surviving gunman, are accused of also being key planners behind the attacks.

"Headley appears to be far more central to the conspiracy than any of these others," Sahni said.