India: Threatening phone call was a hoax

NEW DELHI, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- India's foreign minister says he did not make a threatening phone call to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that prompted a security alert in Islamabad.

Pakistani reports say a caller claiming to be Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to Zardari in a threatening manner Nov. 28, but Mukherjee says the call was a hoax, the BBC reported Sunday.

Mukherjee said Pakistan was using the call to divert attention from the fact its nationals were involved in last month's Mumbai terrorist attacks, in which at least 170 people were killed by heavily armed gunmen.

"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 the Pakistani territory, planned and launched a ghastly attack on Mumbai," Mukherjee said in a statement.

Islamabad denies any involvement in the attacks. Information Minister Sherry Rehman told the BBC the call couldn't have been a hoax because it "was placed from a verified official phone number of the Indian ministry of external affairs."