Islamabad - Nuclear-armed Pakistan edged to the brink
of war with India when its president received a threatening call from
someone posing as Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee following
last week's Mumbai attacks, a media report said Saturday.
The caller, who was put through to President Asif Ali Zardari late
in the day on November 28 without verification of his claimed
identity, warned that India would take 'military action if Islamabad
failed to immediately act against the supposed perpetrators of the
Mumbai killings.'
According to the Dawn newspaper, as the phone call ended many in
the president's office were convinced that the 'Indians had started
beating the war drums.' Intense diplomatic and military activity
started in Islamabad, the report said further.
Pakistan's air force was put on highest alert and jet fighters
patrolled over and around the federal capital with live ammunition,
while messages were sent to top officials in Washington, including US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, about the gravity of the
situation.
But Mukherjee denied that he had made any phone call to Zardari
when Rice contacted him in the middle of night on Friday. With
international efforts, the situation was defused by late Saturday.
But 'for nearly 24 hours over the weekend the incident continued
to send jitters across the world. To some world leaders the
probability of an accidental war appeared very high,' the newspaper
reported, citing several unnamed Pakistani political, diplomatic
and security sources.
Investigations are underway to establish the identity of the
caller. Pakistani authorities suspect the phone call came from a
number in New Delhi and might have been someone in India's foreign
ministry, a claim the Indians rejected outright.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after last week's
terrorist attacks in Mumbai that left more than 170 people dead and
over 300 injured.
The Indian police claim the 10 attackers were linked with
Pakistan-based Islamic militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is
fighting a guerrilla war in Indian-administered part of Kashmir.
The nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours both claim the region
area and have fought three wars during the 61 years of their
existence over the conflict.
Early this week, Rice visited both New Delhi and Islamabad and
called upon Pakistan to help in the Mumbai investigations and punish
the culprits behind it. At the same time, she urged India to show
restraint.
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