Islamabad, July 22 Confessions made by Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving 26/11 gunman, before a Mumbai court would not affect Indo-Pak ties, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Memhood Qureshi has said.

Pakistani media reported Qureshi, as saying: "Kasab is not a hurdle in Indo-Pak ties."

Referring to the November 2008 terror strike, Qureshi admitted the incident had soured relations between two neighbouring countries, and said talks were the only way forward.

"Certainly that was a hiccup. We are overcoming that because both sides believe this is a common challenge. The only way forward is engagement with each other. So I think we will be back on track soon," Qureshi said.

Earlier in the day, Kasab told the court that he was under no pressure to confess.

"I was neither torture nor put under any pressure," Kasab told the court.

"Agar kisiko aitraaz hai...agar kisi ke dil mein shak hai ki main phansi se bachne ke liye yeh kar raha hoon toh beshak phansi ki saza dijiye. (If anyone feels that I am confessing to escape the death penalty then the court may without doubt hang me)," Kasab said.

Defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi had claimed that his client was being tortured and that he made the confession under pressure.

On the other hand, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said: "There is need to know reason if there's a ploy behind Kasab confession."

Confessing before the court, he had said that he and his slain partner Abu Ismail were directed to start firing indiscriminately at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), take hostages and attack those policemen who tried to rescue the hostages.

Narrating the entire plot, Kasab had confessed that he came along with nine other terrorists in a boat from Karachi. He also owned up for his involvement in the 26/11 terror attacks at the CST and at Cama Hospital.

He had named Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative and alleged mastermind Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhvi a key conspirator, saying he was instructed to conduct a fidayeen (suicide) attack in Mumbai. (ANI)