Former president Pranab Mukherjee (C) gestures as Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora (L) and Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa (R) look on, during the first 'Sukumar Sen Memo...
Former President Pranab Mukherjee pays floral tribute to former prime minister Indira Gandhi on her birth anniversary, at Shakti Sthal in New Delhi.
(L-R) Congress President Sonia Gandhi, former president Pranab Mukherjee, former vice president M Hamid Ansari and former PM Manmohan Singh after paying floral tribute to India's f...
Former president Pranab Mukherjee pays floral tribute to India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his birth anniversary at Shanti Van, in New Delhi.
Former president Pranab Mukherjee pays tribute to former prime minister Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary at Shakti Sthal, in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets former president Pranab Mukherjee on the occasion of Diwali festival, in New Delhi.
Former president Pranab Mukherjee relaxes at his ancestral home, Mirati, on the occasion of Durga Puja festival, in Birbhum
Former president Pranab Mukherjee during the Dr. Satish C Seth Memorial lecture in New Delhi.
Manish Sisodia during the release of his book 'Shiksha' along with former president Pranab Mukherjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in New Delhi.
Former president Pranab Mukherjee, former vice-president Hamid Ansari, former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress party's interim president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadr...
President Ram Nath Kovind flanked by Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the recipient of Bharat Ratna Awa...
Former president Pranab Mukherjee arrives to receive Bharat Ratna during a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi. Also seen are Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minist...
President Ram Nath Kovind confers Bharat Ratna upon former president Pranab Mukherjee during a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi.
President Ram Nath Kovind confers Bharat Ratna upon former president Pranab Mukherjee during a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi.
In this file photo, Sushma Swaraj greets then President Pranab Mukherjee on his 78th birthday at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. Swaraj who was on Tuesday night admitted to AIIMS,...
Former President Pranab Mukherjee speaks during the one-day seminar for MLAs at the State Assembly in Jaipur. Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot ar...
In this file photo dated May 21, 2013, is seen then Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit with then president Pranab Mukherjee, senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi ...
Former President Pranab Mukherjee speaks on the topic of 'Furthering India's Promise' during an event at Mavalankar Hall, in New Delhi.
Former President Pranab Mukherjee along with author and former Union minister Arun Shourie (R) and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor (L) releases former Union minister Yashwant Sinha's au...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets the former President Pranab Mukherjee at his residence in New Delhi.
"Jordari, Jordari," the voice is reported to have said in perfect Benglish, "I weel shee you."
Words to this effect is what, we all laughed last year, must have made a rattled Asif Zardari rush to the Americans, complaining Pranab Mukherjee had threatened him at the height of the Mumbai siege.
Except the Benglish-spouting gent wasn't Pranab.
It now appears that the hoax calls that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war post 26/11 were -- yes, it seems incredulous -- made by none other than Omar Saeed Sheikh, one of the dreaded terrorists freed by India during the Kandahar hijack crisis.
Surely the Pakistanis cannot be that easily fooled? Particularly, because anybody who has heard or met Pranab-da -- as Zardari indeed has -- would always remember his distinctively endearing accent.
That someone could have put on a heavy Bengali accent and mimicked Pranabda, we thought, was a possibility. But Omar Sheikh?
He apparently tried calling Condi Rice and Pranab Mukherjee himself and was not allowed access, which is how it should be when it comes to call filteration for such high-profile personages.
It does beggar belief that not only were the calls actually put through to Kiyani and Zardari or, as the Dawn report puts it, that Gen Kayani was bewildered by the caller’s threatening tone.
He is confined in a high security cell of Karachi Jail, has a long record of militancy, from kidnapping foreigners in Mumbai in 1994 to possible involvement in 9/11, Parliament attack case and kidnapping Daniel Pearl in Jan 2002. But still has -- or, at least, had -- access to a mobile phone that he seems to be putting to good use. I am amazed that the Americans aren't even ensuring that he was being monitored properly. Another common thread of course is that Omar Sheikh's Pak handler Ilyas Kashmiri also handled Headley, also under investigation for 26/11
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