Mukherjee

New Delhi, Dec. 7: Pranab Mukherjee today dismissed reports of a hoax call made in his name to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, calling them diversionary tactics and criticising Islamabad for giving credence to such reports and “confusing the public”.

“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,” the external affairs minister said in a statement.

In the wake of reports that the “threatening” call could have triggered an accidental war, Mukherjee said it was “worrying” that Pakistan was considering “acting” on the basis of a “hoax” call.

His “last and only” conversation with Zardari was in May, the minister said.

“We were informed by friends from third countries that Pakistan President Zardari believed that he had received a threatening call from me on November 28, after the attack on Mumbai,” the statement said. “We immediately clarified to those friends and also made it clear to the Pakistan authorities that I had made no such telephone call.”

Mukherjee said the only phone conversation that he had with any Pakistani leader since the Mumbai attack was with Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on the evening of November 28, when the Pakistan foreign minister was in Delhi.

“It is, however, 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.”

Pakistani information minister Sherry Rehman had said Zardari received a “threatening” call that came from India’s foreign ministry.

McCain warning

India may go for surgical strikes against individuals and groups linked to the Mumbai attacks in a “matter of days” if Pakistan does not act on “irrefutable evidence”, US senator John McCain has warned.

McCain said this was what he was told by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was “reeling from the shock” of the attacks, PTI reported. He said Singh, who is not easily ruffled, was “visibly angry”.