Notably, India was seeking Headley's extradition and wanted him to be tried here, however, under a plea deal, the US prosecutors "had agreed not to seek the death penalty against him and to not extradite him to Pakistan, India or Denmark for the offences to which he pleaded guilty".

Mr. Verma added that India lacks political will to act tough on Pakistan and its affiliated terrorists and even if Headley was extradited, there were very less chances of swift justice and tough punishment to him.

“Even if India would have managed to extradite Headley, then it would have spent 30-40 crore rupees as it did in the case of Ajmal Kasab. I am very confident that the Indian government would have done nothing as there appears to be a very big pro-Pakistan lobby in the government, which does not allow it to take any concrete action against Pakistan.”

“If the government were capable of taking tough actions then it would have hanged Afzal Guru before thinking about Headley. How are we going to be confident that if Headley had been handed over to India, he would have met justice and aspirations of the 26/11 victim?” questioned Verma.

Headley, who was arrested in 2009, has been awarded imprisonment of 35 years on 12 counts. It includes conspiracy to aid the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, which attacked the landmark Taj Mahal Hotel and other targets in Mumbai. The US attorneys had sought between 30 and 35 years of imprisonment for Headley, during their closing arguments.

During the trial, Headley had confessed that he had undertaken numerous scouting missions for his handlers in Pakistan. He had videographed a number of targets in India including the iconic Taj Hotel in Mumbai which was later attacked.