CHINA : Times Square bomb suspect unlikely alone, says visiting Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik

Record ID: 356269

  • Title: CHINA : Times Square bomb suspect unlikely alone, says visiting Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik
  • Date: 7th May 2010
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (MAY 6, 2010) (REUTERS) JOURNALIST SHAKING HANDS WITH PAKISTANI INTERIOR MINISTER REHMAN MALIK JOURNALIST AND MALIK SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAKISTANI INTERIOR MINISTER REHMAN MALIK SAYING: "According to the available information, he says it was his individual act, I would not tend to believe that. That is why I will be able to come forward and give
  • Embargoed: 22nd May 2010 13:00
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  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVADQW9D358D9NKMBIY3MC3NIXY5
  • Story Text: During an official visit to China, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Thursday (May 6) that he thought it unlikely that a Pakistani-American arrested over a failed plot to bomb New York's Times Square had acted alone.
    "According to the available information, he says it was his individual act, I would not tend to believe that. That is why I will be able to come forward and give our view only once we have seen the interrogation report in total," Malik said during a visit to Beijing.
    Malik said that Pakistan needed to know whether Shahzad had been acting as part of a gang, or if he had been framed. Pakistan's security officials had started investigating the 30 year old suspect, son of a retired Pakistani air vice-marshal, as soon as his name became public, he added.
    He declined to comment on possible ties between Shahzad and militant groups in Pakistan without more information about the interrogation or details of charges against the suspect.
    Asked about a report that the United States had asked to interview Shahzad's parents, Malik said that when he left Pakistan yesterday evening no such request had been received but said Pakistan was ready to help with enquiries.
    "In fact, before leaving I asked the secretary of the interior to get in touch with the authorities and request for a copy of the interrogation report or any type of charge sheet which has been framed against him and wherever they want our help or support we will definitely give them," he said.
    Shahzad, 30, who was born in Pakistan and became a U.S. citizen last year, has been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and trying to kill and maim people within the United States as well as other counts.
    U.S. prosecutors said Shahzad, the son of a retired Pakistani vice air marshal, had admitted to receiving bomb-making training in a Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold in Pakistan. A law enforcement source said investigators believed the Pakistani Taliban financed that training.
    China is a major diplomatic and financial backer of Pakistan, providing everything from infrastructure investment to nuclear reactors and weapons. It has continued with investments despite a rise in kidnappings and attacks aimed at Chinese nationals, who were once below the radar of militant groups.
    The two countries are bound together in part by mutual suspicion of neighbour India, Pakistan's long-standing rival and China's competitor for regional influence. Pakistani intelligence said last Sunday (May 2) that it had killed an al Qaeda-linked militant who has called for attacks on China over its treatment of Muslims.
    On a previous visit to China, Malik said that Beijing and Islamabad were cooperating to stamp out violent groups that span their border, claiming that militants in the mountainous frontier have formed a "syndicate".
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