Impersonator-terrorist, combined with dumb administration, almost caused war

NEW DELHI: Pakistani terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh was behind the hoax call made to Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari during the height of tensions between India and Pakistan after the 26/11 attacks. Investigators told Pakistani daily Dawan that Omar Sheikh, posing as former external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, had threatened Mr Zardari, in a bid to heighten tensions between the two countries.

Pakistani investigators found that Omar Sheikh, in a Karachi jail since 2002 for the murder of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl, used a mobile phone with a UK-registered SIM to first place a call to Mr Mukherjee, pretending to be the Pakistani president. However, the Indian side grew suspicious of the caller as the normal procedure for placing such a high-level call was not followed and it was never put through to the minister.

But Islamabad fell for the hoax. Omar Sheikh, who was released by BJP-led government in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked IC-814 plane in Kandahar, told Mr Zardari that India would take action if Pakistan did not take action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks.

He also reportedly called up the then Pakistani Army chief and made an unsuccessful attempt to talk to the then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. But the Pakistani government, which seemed to have no checks in place, went into a tizzy claiming Pranab Mukherjee had threatened Pakistan.

Pakistan, which put its armed forces on alert on the basis of the hoax call, insisted the call was placed from the Ministry of External Affairs and even referred the matter to Washington. Mr Mukherjee had rubbished the Pakistani claim and criticised Islamabad for acting on the basis of a hoax call.

Much to Islamabad’s embarrassment, investigations have now revealed that the call was placed from within a Pakistani jail. It is believed that after his release, Omar Sheikh developed ties with the Lashkar-e-Toiba leadership, including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, whom a Pakistani court chargesheeted as the mastermind behind the Mumbai terror attacks on Wednesday. Investigators have established that Lakhvi was in Karachi when the hoax calls were made. Apparently, Omar Sheikh was kept informed about the Mumbai terror attacks by his wife Saadia Omar.