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Pranab decries hoax call

NEW DELHI: With reports in Pakistan continuing to swirl about an alleged phone call made by him threatening Islamabad with war, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said these “misleading stories” were being put out to “divert attention from the fact that a terrorist group operating from the Pakistani territory, planned and launched a ghastly attack on Mumbai.”

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Minister said India had been informed “by friends from third countries” that President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan believed he had received a threatening telephone call from Mr. Mukherjee on November 28, after the attack on Mumbai. “We immediately clarified to those friends, and we also made it clear to the Pakistan authorities, that I had made no such telephone call.”

Mr. Mukherjee said his “last and only conversation” with Mr. Zardari was in Islamabad during his May 2008 visit to the Pakistani capital. “The only telephone conversation that I have had with a Pakistani leader since the attack on Mumbai was on the evening of November 28 when I spoke to the Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi who was then in New Delhi,” he added.

While setting the record straight, the Minister added that it was “worrying that a neighbouring State might even consider acting on the basis of such a hoax call, try to give it credibility with other States, and confuse the public by releasing the story in part.” He said he could only ascribe this series of events “to those in Pakistan” who wanted to divert attention away from the involvement of Pakistan-based terrorist groups in the Mumbai carnage.

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