LAHORE: Faisal Shehzad, an American national of the Pakistani origin, who is the accused in New York’s failed bomb plot who has already been arrested by the FBI, is the son of a former Pakistan Air Force officer, Air Vice Marshall (retd) Baharul Haq, who now leads a retired life in the Hayatabad area of Peshawar and looks after his agricultural land.
Faisal Shehzad, 30, the owner of the car in which bombs were planted and then parked near Times Square, was born in Pakistan and then moved to America. He was living in Connecticut, Shelton having American Nationality; apparently he was working for Wall Street. Already charged with attempting to commit an act of terror, attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and traveling over an international border to commit an act of terrorism in connection with the alleged attempted car bombing of Times Square, Faisal had become an American citizen hardly a year ago, having been naturalized in Bridgeport, Connecticut in April 2009. The suspect of Times Square car bomb was arrested from John F Kennedy Airport while he was trying to fly back to Pakistan via Dubai. The FBI sleuths interrogating him believe Faisal Shehzad has significant connections with Islamic terrorists back home in Pakistan.
The investigators believe the objective of the car bomb was clear and that was to kill several Americans and to create a situation of instability and insecurity. The process of buying the car which was tried to use in the bomb attacks was illegal. Faisal has already told the investigating authorities that the car was purchased online and payment was done in parts. The car was used by Faisal even few days before the car bomb attempts. The American investigators believe that Faisal has spent a good amount of time in Peshawar near Taliban, so finally, the conclusion and connection of Times Square bomb plot simply reached Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Faisal is married with two children. His Pakistani national identity card was made in Karachi as he had a job there a few years back. He had visited Peshawar in February 2010 with his wife and children to attend a family wedding.
As soon as the news about the arrest of Faisal Shehzad broke, his father Air Vice Marshal (retd) Baharul Haq hurriedly vacated the family home in Hayatabad area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of the NWFP, now renamed as Khybe Pakhtoonkhawa. Eyewitnesses said he packed some belongings in a vehicle and left the house located in Phase IV of the posh Hayatabad town along with male and female members of the family. However, their destination was not known. Air Vice Marshal Baharul Haq had retired from Pakistan Air Force a few years ago. Later, he got a senior post in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and his family moved to Karachi. Baharul Haq has two sons. The elder son is settled in Canada while Faisal Shehzad had been living in the US. Maj Gen (retd) Tajul Haq, reported to be his brother, served as the Inspector General of Frontier Corps (IGFC) in the past. According to Sareerul Haq, a cousin of Faisal and nephew of Baharul Haq, he could not believe the allegations against his cousin. However, the Pakistani intelligence agencies have already swung into action and picked up two suspects – a friend and the father-in-law of Faisal Shahzad. The friend Tausef and father-in-law Iftikhar Mian were picked up from a Karachi house in Block N, North Nazimabad. But it could not be confirmed if Faisal’s wife Huma Mian has also been detained.
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