New Delhi: The US on Monday said it has been sharing information with India on David Coleman Headley on a "real time basis" and is working "at the highest level day and night" to provide New Delhi direct access to the American-Pakistani plotter of Mumbai attacks "as quickly as possible."
"The US is working at the highest level to provide direct access to Headley. Our government has put this as the highest priority in counter-terror cooperation," US Ambassador Timothy J Roemer told journalists in New Delhi.
"We recognise the sensitivity of this issue to India and the people of India," stressed Roemer, a former member of the 9/11 commission.
"We want to ensure justice is brought to these blood-thirsty terrorist attackers, whether they kill thousands of people in New York or scores of them in Mumbai," he said.
Admitting that the process of direct access to Headley was riddled with judicial and legal "complications", Roemer said: "....this is a sensitive issue, and because it is so important to you, we are going to resolve it. Provide this access as quickly as we can."
"We want to ensure that justice is delivered to the attackers. Nobody understands the importance of Headley as I do and the US. This is the highest priority (providing direct access)," the envoy said. "We are literally working night and day at the highest levels of our government to resolve this issue of direct access to Headley," he stressed.
The envoy said he has spoken at the highest level in the US government, including with the FBI and counter-terror officials, on the issue of access to Headley, who is currently in the US custody after confessing his role in plotting the Mumbai terror attacks.
Roemer's reassurance to India on providing direct access to Headley came eight days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised the issue with US President Barack Obama in Washington.
Obama had assured Manmohan Singh of his full support over the issue of access to Headley.
Armed with Obama's support, Indian authorities are now planning to write a formal letter to their American counterparts, seeking direct access to Headley.
The envoy underlined that the US authorities were sharing intelligence information on Headley with India on real-time basis. He added that the US was providing indirect access to Headley by sharing with India the information gathered from him and putting forth the questions by Indian officials to prevent any possible terror attack in future on both India and his country.
Roemer, however, refused to comment on the possibility of extradition of Headley, saying India has not formally asked for this.
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