Hoax Caller To Pakistan's President Sets Pakistan Air Force On High Alert

Tell me how scary it is that some nutjob can literally make a prank phone call and actually talk to the Pakistani President?!! That's what happened this morning in Pakistan as a hoax caller pretended to be the Indian Foreign Minister calling from New Delhi and spoke directly to the Pakistani President and used sufficient threats that the Pakistanis scrambled their air force into high alert. Here's the details from Breitbart:

A man pretending to be India's foreign minister called Pakistan's president and talked in a "threatening" manner during the Mumbai terror attacks, prompting Pakistan to put its air force on high alert, a security official and a news report said Saturday.

The call by a man identifying himself as Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee was put through to President Asif Ali Zardari on Nov. 28, said the security official, who declined to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
"India through diplomatic channels has informed the Pakistani Foreign Ministry that Pranab Mukherjee made no such call," he said. "Now what still needs to be checked is who made this threatening call."
Dawn newspaper said the country's air force was put on high alert in response to the telephone call. It said it came from a New Delhi number, but that Indian officials believed the caller ID could have been manipulated.

Now, this could have been someone from a TON of different groups or I suppose, even some individual whack job - let's face it, groups like al Qaeda and the Taliban would probably relish some sort of war going on between Pakistan and India right now - the chaos would both take pressure off their groups and also create huge security openings.

But how and the hell does some imposter get to the President of the country of Pakistan? I doubt that I could call up Barack Obama in 2009 and pretend to be George Soros asking for my first payment for getting Obama elected and actually get through to him. Can you imagine a war between Pakistan and India started over a crank phone call?

Hoax call fuels Pakistan-Indian tensions

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A man pretending to be India's foreign minister called Pakistan's president and talked in a "threatening" manner during the Mumbai terror attacks, prompting Pakistan to put its air force on high alert, a security official and a news report said Saturday.
Dawn newspaper said authorities were investigating the circumstances of the hoax, which occurred as tensions spiked between the nuclear-armed neighbors during the attacks.
The atrocity, which began Nov. 26, is being blamed by India on Pakistani extremists.
Indian officials were not immediately available to comment on the telephone call.
The call by a man identifying himself as Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee was put through to President Asif Ali Zardari on Nov. 28, said the security official, who declined to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
"India through diplomatic channels has informed the Pakistani Foreign Ministry that Pranab Mukherjee made no such call," he said. "Now what still needs to be checked is who made this threatening call."
Dawn newspaper said the country's air force was put on high alert in response to the telephone call. It said it came from a New Delhi number, but that Indian officials believed the caller ID could have been manipulated.
A day after the call, two Pakistani security officials warned the government would pull its troops from the anti-terrorism fight along the border with Afghanistan in order to respond to any Indian military mobilization.
During a briefing, one of those officials said someone from the Indian Foreign Ministry had called "a top Pakistani personality" and threatened military action if Pakistan did not cooperate with New Delhi.
The rising tensions between the two rivals prompted an intense round of international telephone diplomacy that night and into the next day. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to Zardari and Mukherjee.
Dawn reported that Rice asked Mukherjee why he took such a threatening tone with Zardari. He replied he had had no contact with the president, the newspaper reported, in what apparently led to the hoax being uncovered.
Dawn reported that none of the normal checks on establishing callers' identities before putting them through to the president were carried out because of the urgency of the situation during the attacks.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars in 60 years, two over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Despite improved relations since 2004, mistrust on both sides remains high.