Pakistan Feared Indian Air Strikes

India was preparing to hits areas identified as militant camps, says official
By Amelia Atlas,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 7, 2008 6:56 AM CST
Pakistan Feared Indian Air Strikes
Hundreds of people last week chant pro-India slogans and carry candles in memory of people killed in the terror attacks in Mumbai.    (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

Pakistan feared a retaliatory attack by India after the Mumbai terrorist siege, a Pakistani official told the BBC. Evidence indicated that India was planning an air raid on suspected militant training camps, he said. Despite worries that India planned "to teach Pakistan a lesson, 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? We have to defend ourselves."

A troubling phone call heightened tensions as officials from both countries sought to navigate the terror aftermath. A  threatening prank call to President Zardari by someone claiming to be the Indian foreign minister put Pakistan on alert, according to a Pakistani newspaper. But the Pakistani government insists the call was real.  "It is not possible for any call to come through to the president without multiple caller identity verifications," said one official.
(More Mumbai stories.)

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