As investigators dig deep into the antecedents of terror suspect David Headley alias Daood Gilani, indications have emerged that he may be distantly related to Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Sources close to the investigation said that Headley's father Sayed Salim Gilani, a Pakistani diplomat and former Director General of Radio Pakistan, traced his ancestry to the same Gilani family to which the prime minister belongs.
Daood Gilani, who changed his name to David Coleman Headley three years back, was arrested by FBI in Chicago last month for allegedly plotting terror attacks in India along with a Canadian-Pakistani Tahawwur Rana.
Headley's step brother Danyal Gilani was working in the office of Pakistan Prime Minister as his Public Relations Officer (PRO), the sources said.
PM Gilani issued a condolence message when Salim Gilani passed away on Christmas last year at the age of 80 and may have attended the funeral, according to the sources.
Saleem Gilani had also worked with the Pakistani mission in the USA. He hailed from an influential political family from Multan, who were descendants of Syed Musa Pak, a spiritual figure of Qadri Sufism order which traces its origins to Gilan province of Iran.
Saleem Gilani was an avid musicologist and a poet but his marriage with Serrill, Headley's American born mother, soured when they came to Lahore to settle down.
In 1977, Pakistan's government was overthrown in a military coup and Serrill feared for her children. She withdrew Headley from Hasan Abdal Cadet College and brought him to the US to live with her.
At the age of 38, Headley, who was known as Daood at that time, was arrested by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the US but he turned approver and later went to Pakistan to conduct surveillance operations for the DEA.
Headley and Rana were arrested by the FBI last month from Chicago for allegedly plotting to carry out terror strikes in Denmark and India.
The National Investigating Agency, set up in India after the 26/11 terror strikes, has also registered a case against Rana-Headley duo for allegedly conspiring to wage a war against India. PTI
