Indian FM denies call to Pakistani president

On Sunday India's foreign minister denied that he placed a call to Pakistan's president at the height of the Mumbai attacks, which led its air force going on high alert.

Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, said that he received a threatening call during the crisis, apparently from Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The back and forth arguments over the call, appearing farcical, shows the dangers of the poor communication and the deep mistrust between the nuclear-armed rivals. India's investigation into the attacks were also filled with drama, with security officials demanding the release of one of only two men arrested so far, saying he was actually a counterinsurgency police officer who may have been on an undercover mission. Lashkar-e-Taiba is a banned Pakistani-based militant group and Indian authorities believe that the group trained the gunmen and plotted the attacks that left more than 150 people dead after a three-day rampage through Mumbai that started Nov.26. Mukherjee said that he made no such call but Pakistan's Dawn newspaper said it prompted Pakistan to put its air force on high alert. A security official said a man pretending to be Mukherjee had spoken in a threatening manner. Sherry Rehman is the Pakistani Information Minister and she says that the call was placed from a verified official phone number of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. She did not openly say it was Mukherjee that called but two other government officials said that it was him. Mukherjee said that it is worrisome that the neighboring state might even consider acting on the basis of such a fake call.

"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.

According to a statement India found out about the call from another country, apparently the U.S., and it had sent messages to Pakistan assuring it that no call was ever made. Pakistan says that it is prepared to cooperate with India although it has not seen any proof of New Delhi's allegations that its citizens were involved in the Mumbai attacks. Pakistan denied that any of its state agencies were involved, making it a point to say that it is also a victim of terrorism.