Pak admits to Shahzad's links in South Waziristan

Pakistan, probably for the first time, has admitted that the failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad had links in South Waziristan, the strong hold of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Pakistani agencies are probing every aspect of the case.

"Faisal Shahzad had links in South Waziristan and his accounts are in focus for investigation," The Dawn quoted Malik, as saying.

Shahzad had told his interrogators that he had received bomb-making training by the TTP in the restive South Waziristan along the Afghanistan border.

Malik, however, told media persons here that no arrests have been made so far in connection with botched May 1 bombing plot.

It is pertinent to mention here that news regarding Pakistani authorities detaining several persons, including an army major, is being frequently flashed in both international and Pakistani media.

Commenting on New Delhi expressing its disappointment over the Supreme Court's verdict to free the banned Jamaat-ud-Daawa chief Hafeez Muhammed Saeed, the mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai carnage, Malik said India should respect the judgement of Pakistani courts of justice.

"We had also honored the Indian court's decision against Ajmal Kasab," he said.

Malik said India, Pakistan and Afghanistan should join hands for a joint struggle against the menace of terrorism in the region.