A hoax call that could have triggered war

[thorosius]

Well, no defence minister in the world will call the counterpart and tell we will attack you. It will be simply ridiculous.

That is exactly why he's backing out!

 

[daredevil]

India slams Pakistan over Mumbai hoax call reports


MUMBAI (AFP) — India's foreign minister said on Sunday that Pakistani reports about a hoax call made in his name during the Mumbai siege were an attempt to divert blame for the attacks.
The call, from someone claiming to be Pranab Mukherjee to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, put Pakistan on high alert of a military strike by India while militants were still fighting security forces in Mumbai.
The caller told Zardari that India would take military action if Islamabad did not hand over those behind the attacks, Pakistani newspapers reported on Saturday.
"I had made no such telephone call," Mukherjee said in a statement explaining how India rushed to clarify that the call was a hoax.
"I can only ascribe this series of events to those in Pakistan who wish to divert attention from the fact that a terrorist group operating from Pakistani territory planned and launched a ghastly attack on Mumbai."
Pakistan responded to the hoax call by putting its air force on stand-by, and the incident triggered a flurry of diplomatic activity as world leaders feared a row between the nuclear-armed rivals could lead to war.
Mukherjee said it was "worrying" that Pakistan could "even consider acting on the basis of such a hoax call".
In another sign of how high cross-border tension rose last week, Pakistan's ambassador to Britain said international diplomats also feared India was about to launch a military strike on Pakistan.
"There was circumstantial evidence that India was going to make a quick strike against Pakistan to teach her a lesson," Wajid Shamsul Hassan, Pakistan's high commissioner to London, told the BBC.
"This is what we were told by our friends -- that there could possibly be a quick strike at some of the areas they suspect to be the training camps, an air raid or something of that sort," he said on Saturday.
The US sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to India and Pakistan last week to keep a lid on tensions between the neighbours, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.
Pakistan has repeatedly called for " concrete proof " from India, which says the only gunman captured alive has admitted that all the attackers had come from across the border.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's foreign ministry on Sunday dismissed as "rubbish" reports that it had agreed to a 48-hour timetable to take action against Pakistanis accused of involvement in the attacks.
The Washington Post said on Saturday that Pakistan had agreed to a deadline imposed by the United States and India to arrest three people, including the head of the Islamist Lashkar-e-Taiba group alleged to be behind the strikes.
Indian police resumed interrogation on Sunday of two men arrested on suspicion of providing mobile phone SIM cards to the attackers.
One was reported to be from Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in whole by each. Both men are said to be Indian nationals.
Suspicion in the Mumbai attacks has fallen on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has fought Indian rule in Kashmir and was blamed for a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.
Pakistan, a close US ally in the "war on terror," is fighting its own brutal Islamist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives, and officials reject claims that the government supports terror groups.
But elements in the country's powerful military intelligence service are widely suspected of at least tacitly supporting some militant groups.
The brazen assault with machine guns, grenades and explosives targeted hotels, a Jewish centre, the main train station, a hospital and other sites in Mumbai, India's financial capital.
It left 172 dead, including nine gunmen, and nearly 300 people wounded.
Some Indian media reports on Sunday said one of the two men being questioned was an undercover police officer who had infiltrated Lashkar-e-Taiba.

 

[zombie]

lol..this is similar to the hoax Sarkozy caller to Sarah Palin. Looks like the some folks are going to get fired for not doing their job. Cant belive some idiots get paid for this.

Lol whats next dalai lama calling hu jintao?

 

[Prodigy17]

Well, no defence minister in the world will call the counterpart and tell we will attack you. It will be simply ridiculous.

Ah, i see, you are behind the curve. One, Mukherjee is not the defence minister, two, he did not forewarn but threatened a war, do you understand the difference between two?????
Ridiculous ??? yes,thats exactly what we are saying but unfortunately Mukherjee proved himself a dunce by doing it and no less than Condi had to wake him up in the middle of the night to put some sense into his tiny thingy called brain.

 

[niaz]

It is diplomatically inconceivable that an FM calls a President and verbally threatens to attack except he happens to be US Foreign Secretary.This just shows how incompetent PPP high command is.

On the other hand, India has openly declared her intentions thru her “Cold Start” doctrine and special allocating men and materials for this purpose on her Eastern borders. Basically it means that India has developed capability to attack Pakistan without formally declaring war and without noticeable movement of her assets as happened during the 2002 episode. GOP was therefore justified in taking this threat seriously.

 

[Robin234]

Well, no defence minister in the world will call the counterpart and tell we will attack you. It will be simply ridiculous.

hmm he is not the minister of Defence ,yaar .He is Minister of External Affairs

Minister of Defence is A.K Antony

 

[jaunty]

Jailed militant’s hoax calls drove India, Pakistan to brink of war ​

By Azaz Syed
Thursday, 26 Nov, 2009

ISLAMABAD: Omar Saeed Sheikh, a detained Pakistani militant, had made hoax calls to President Asif Ali Zardari and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in a bid to heighten Pakistan-India tensions after last year’s terrorist attacks on Mumbai, investigators have told Dawn.

‘Omar Saeed Sheikh was the hoax caller. It was he who threatened the civilian and military leaderships of Pakistan over telephone. And he did so from inside Hyderabad jail,’ investigators said.

The controversy came to light after Dawn broke the story, exactly one year ago, that a hoax caller claiming to be then Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee was making threatening calls to President Zardari.

It was on the night of Nov 26 last year that Saadia Omar, Omar Sheikh’s wife, informed him about the carnage in Mumbai. The sources said that the information was passed on to Omar in Hyderabad jail through his mobile phone, which he was secretly using without the knowledge of the administration.

All but one of the attackers who India alleged were Lashkar-i-Taiba terrorists were shot dead by security personnel.

Saadia kept updating Omar about the massacre through the night and small hours of the morning. On the night of Nov 28, when the authorities had regained control over the better part of the city, Omar Saeed, using a UK-registered mobile SIM, made a phone call to Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

He told an operator handling Mr Mukherjee’s calls that he was the President of Pakistan.
Indian officials started verification as part of security precautions and, after some time, the operator informed Omar Saeed (who was posing to be Pakistan’s president) that the foreign minister would get in touch with him soon. Omar now made a call to President Asif Ali Zardari and then the Chief of Army Staff.

He also made an attempt to talk to the US secretary of state, but security checks barred his way.

The presidency swung into action soon after Mr Zardari’s conversation with the adventurous militant.

President Zardari first spoke to Prime Minister Gilani and informed him about the happenings. He also took Interior Minister Rehman Malik into the loop.

In Rawalpindi, Gen Kayani immediately spoke to the chief of the Inter Services Intelligence, Lt- Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

According to sources, not only President Asif Zardari was taken in by Omar’s audacity but the COAS was also baffled by his cheekiness.

Gen Kayani, sharing his thoughts with close associates, said he had been bewildered by the caller’s threatening tone.

But Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the military spokesman, finds the report unbelievable. ‘I am not his (Army chief’s) operator. I don’t know who puts calls through to him, but I think this can’t be true,’ said an incredulous Athar Abbas.

Interestingly, when Omar Saeed Sheikh was making these hoax calls, the Lashkar-i-Taiba (LET) chief was also in Karachi, but it is not known whether Omar Saeed was acting under the guidance of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi or on his own.

INVESTIGATIONS: On the other hand, investigators got into the act without wasting time, coming up with their findings within hours.

Their conclusion was that the phone call which came from the Indian external affairs ministry was actually their (Indians’) check.

They said the calls to President Zardari and the army chief were made from a Britain-registered SIM.

Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf, in his autobiography, had alleged that Omar Saeed was an agent of MI6, the British intelligence agency.

The very next morning, Nov 29, Hyderabad jail was raided by intelligence agencies and over a dozen SIMs were recovered along with two mobile sets. Majid Siddiqui, the jail superintendent, was suspended.

‘I don’t know much but it is true that some mobile SIMs and mobile sets were recovered from Omar Saeed Sheikh when he was in Hyderabad jail.

I got him transferred to Karachi jail because that is a far better place for such high-profile terrorists,’ Allauddin Abbasi, DIG Prisons, Hyderabad, told Dawn over phone.

The authorities had a word with Saadia Omar too. She was advised to ‘control’ herself. The matter was then placed in the files of secret agencies marked as ‘secret’.

The Federal Investigation Agency never interrogated Omar Saeed about the Mumbai attacks. Dawn’s efforts for getting the viewpoint of Tariq Khosa , the FIA chief, drew a blank.

HIGH PROFILE: Omar, currently confined in a high security cell of Karachi Jail, has a long record of militancy, from kidnapping foreigners in Mumbai in 1994 to kidnapping Daniel Pearl in Jan 2002.

Omar Saeed Sheikh was freed by India in Dec 1999 as part of a deal that saw New Delhi agreeing to release a number of militant leaders in exchange for the freedom of hostages on board an India plane hijacked to Kabul.

Soon after his release from Indian captivity, Omar Saeed developed close relations with the LET leadership, including Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi.

He was invited to a training camp in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir, where he spent a couple of days delivering lectures to recruits.

Sources said Lakhwi wanted Omar to join LET and give the organisation an international face.

In Feb 2002, Omar was arrested for the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Jailed militant?s hoax calls drove India, Pakistan to brink of war

 

[Goodperson]

It is diplomatically inconceivable that an FM calls a President and verbally threatens to attack except he happens to be US Foreign Secretary.This just shows how incompetent PPP high command is.

On the other hand, India has openly declared her intentions thru her “Cold Start” doctrine and special allocating men and materials for this purpose on her Eastern borders. Basically it means that India has developed capability to attack Pakistan without formally declaring war and without noticeable movement of her assets as happened during the 2002 episode. GOP was therefore justified in taking this threat seriously.

Now it is at least proved that the call was made from Pakistan itself.

Omar, the man who almost triggered India-Pak war - 2 -  International News ? News ? MSN India

Many more truths will come slowly which are hard to digest right now.

 

[Hulk]

Now it is at least proved that the call was made from Pakistan itself.

Omar, the man who almost triggered India-Pak war - 2 - *International News ? News ? MSN India

Many more truths will come slowly which are hard to digest right now.

This news is so funny, such top officials does not know that where the call is coming from? I mean there is a protocol of calling official's of other country. Also why no one checked the number of the mobile phone, worst they did not verified with India(through official channel) before going Public.