New Delhi, December 7
Reports that he had made a 'threatening' phone call to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee fuming today as he lashed out at Islamabad for giving credence to a "hoax" in a bid to divert attention from the fact that the Mumbai attack was launched from the Pakistani territory.
In a statement in the wake of news reports that the 'threatening' call was about to trigger a war, Mukherjee said he was surprised that Pakistan was considering "acting" on the basis of a "hoax" call.
''It is 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. I can only ascribe this series of events to those in Pakistan who wish to divert attention from the fact of an attack on India from Pakistani territory by elements in Pakistan,'' he said.
The minister said his "last and only" conversation with Zardari was in May during his visit to Islamabad and that giving out such "misleading stories" was to "confuse the public".
"We were informed by friends from third countries that Pakistan President Zardari believed that he had received a threatening telephone call from me on November 28, after the attack on Mumbai," Mukherjee here.
"We immediately clarified to those friends and also made it clear to the Pakistan authorities that I had made no such telephone call," the minister said.
Mukherjee said the only telephonic conversation that he had had with a Pakistani leader since the attack on Mumbai was on the evening of November 28 when he had spoken to Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi who was then in New Delhi.
