Pak trying to divert attention: Pranab Mukherjee

New Delhi, Dec 7: Nearly a week after reports hoax call to Pak President Asif Ali Zardari, India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee condemned Pakistan in strong words clarifying his stance on the hoax call issue. In a statement released by the External Affairs Ministry on Sunday, Dec 7, Pranab said, "I had made no such telephone call. My last and only conversation with President Asif Ali Zardari was in Islamabad during my visit to Pakistan in May 2006."

“The only telephone conversation that I had with a Pakistani leader since the attack on Mumbai was on the evening of Nov 28 when I spoke to the Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi,who was then in New Delhi," he added. “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," the statement said.

“I can only ascribe these 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 statement added. “We were informed by the friends from third counties that Pakistan President believed that he had received a threatening telephone call from the Indian side on November 28, after the attack on Mumbai," Mukherjee said in the statement.