Pakistan feared India was planning to launch a military strike at the height of tensions over the Mumbai attacks, a senior Pakistani diplomat has said.
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to London said there was evidence that India wanted “to teach Pakistan a lesson”.
Islamabad denies involvement in the attacks which left at least 170 dead, but some of the gunmen are said to have had links to Pakistani militants.
Both sides have taken care not to openly inflame the situation. High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hassan told the BBC that he had received the information in the wake of the three-day siege of key sites in Mumbai.
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.
Mr Hassan said he alerted his president, Asif Ali Zardari, to the danger and Pakistan urgently passed on its concerns to high level US and British officials, who intervened to calm the situation.
“There was circumstantial evidence that India was going to make a quick strike against Pakistan to teach her a lesson,” he said.
Mr Hassan said that in his opinion it was unlikely the two countries, which both possess nuclear weapons and have fought several wars since partition in 1947, would have ended up in all-out conflict.
“We wouldn’t have gone, and I’m sure India wouldn’t have gone for full-scale war,” he said. “But then, on the other side, how would we have reacted? That could be anybody’s guess. We are a smaller country, we have to defend ourselves.”
India has so far made no comment on Mr Hassan’s comments.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice embarked on a diplomatic mission to ease tensions - flying to Dehli and Islamabad for talks this week.
She also called on both countries to show moderation in their response to the Mumbai attacks.
Analysts say that despite both sides’ rhetoric, there has been no concrete signs by either side of heightened military activity, such as troop movements to border areas. Hoax call denied In an earlier indication of how strained relations had become during the attacks, the Pakistani Dawn newspaper reported that the country had been put on high alert during the crisis after what the paper called a hoax call was made to President Zardari.
A caller claiming to be Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to the Pakistani leader in a threatening manner on 28 November, Dawn reported.
The newspaper said Mr Zardari’s staff had bypassed usual verification checks for a call to the president.
But Pakistan’s Information Minister Sherry Rehman later denied it could have been a hoax.
“It is not possible for any call to come through to the president without multiple caller identity verifications,” he said in a statement.
“In fact the identity of this particular call, as evident from the CLI (caller’s line identification) device, showed that the call was placed from a verified official Phone Number of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.”
In another development, Indian police have arrested two men in the eastern city of Calcutta suspected of handling mobile phone cards later used by the Mumbai attackers.
Nine of the 10 militants believed to have mounted the attack on 26 November died. Indian media have named the surviving gunman as Azam Amir Qasab, a Pakistani, and say he has links to a Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group denies involvement.
Mr Hassan said he alerted his president, Asif Ali Zardari, to the danger and Pakistan urgently passed on its concerns to high level US and British officials, who intervened to calm the situation.
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This is getting hilarious now ...... so some "friends" of the high commisioner had information of an attack ..... since they passed it to the US & UK ... so that rules out it was then as the "friends" .... i doubt it was "israel" ... they are no friends of Pak ....... the Chinese ..... hmmm they prefer to call the ambassador then the officals in Pakistan !!!!!!!
So who are these "friends" .... could they be the "non state" actors the President of Pakistan regularly talks about ....... waiting for the next episode from "cartoon network"
This is getting hilarious now ...... so some "friends" of the high commisioner had information of an attack ..... since they passed it to the US & UK ... so that rules out it was then as the "friends" .... i doubt it was "israel" ... they are no friends of Pak ....... the Chinese ..... hmmm they prefer to call the ambassador then the officals in Pakistan !!!!!!!
So who are these "friends" .... could they be the "non state" actors the President of Pakistan regularly talks about ....... waiting for the next episode from "cartoon network"
Thought you watched the Indian media all the time.
sigh This is why I hate the PPP. The jahils in power accepted a phone call without going through the natural protocols established for the past 60 years. They did not inform the Indian High Commission in Pakistan, they did not call back or do the necessary security clearances. So when a person from India called saying he was the FM, when he wasn't these idiots accepted the call and placed the entire army on high alert based on what a prankster stated.
Now they are asking every damn person to cover up their pathetic mess. The PPP is literally ruining the image of the country.
sigh This is why I hate the PPP. The jahils in power accepted a phone call without going through the natural protocols established for the past 60 years. They did not inform the Indian High Commission in Pakistan, they did not call back or do the necessary security clearances. So when a person from India called saying he was the FM, when he wasn't these idiots accepted the call and placed the entire army on high alert based on what a prankster stated.
Now they are asking every damn person to cover up their pathetic mess. The PPP is literally ruining the image of the country.
Sherry Rehman did say that the normal protocol was followed and CLI did show the Foreign Ministery/Office number in India. I am not sure if "call back" is part of protocol or not.
Information is gathered on the nature and subject of the phone call. How long the call be. What will be discussed etc.
A time is chosen for the call. Yes you just don’t pick up the phone and say hey let me call Chirac today. You arrange a specific time and day for the call well in advance.
30 minutes pass in all of this
Operators make the necessary adjustments to ensure line is secure and not traced or tapped.
15 to 45 minutes depending on security arrangement
Briefing by necessary minsters and security apparatus.
This is getting hilarious now ...... so some "friends" of the high commisioner had information of an attack ..... since they passed it to the US & UK ... so that rules out it was then as the "friends" .... i doubt it was "israel" ... they are no friends of Pak ....... the Chinese ..... hmmm they prefer to call the ambassador then the officals in Pakistan !!!!!!!
So who are these "friends" .... could they be the "non state" actors the President of Pakistan regularly talks about ....... waiting for the next episode from "cartoon network"
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Lol you r funny !
And way too young to understand complications and braintwisting syndrome of politics, currently NOT AVAILABLE on Cartoon Network