Jundal arrest: Marathwada becoming 'Pakistan', says Bal Thackeray

 Marathwada region, from where the arrested LeT handler of 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack, Abu Jundal hails, is fast becoming the "new Pakistan", Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said on Wednesday.

"Marathwada, which was earlier known as the land of saints, is now becoming the land of terrorists," the Sena patriarch said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

In the last five-six years, the connection of any terrorist act anywhere in the country reaches Marathwada, which has become a recruitment centre of terrorists, only due to the lackadaisical functioning of the government and the home department, he claimed.

Be it the Ghatkopar blasts, German Bakery blast, Gujarat blast, the terrorists involved belonged to Marathwada, Thackeray said. "The new Pakistan that is emerging in Marathwada is dangerous not only for Maharashtra but for the country."

The Sena chief also wondered what the Mumbai Police was doing to counter the threats. "What does the intelligence department of police do, is a puzzle...," he remarked.