‘India asked Pakistani foreign minister to leave following 26/11 Mumbai attacks’

Following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee called the then Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was in India at the time, out of a press conference and asked him to leave the country immediately, reported News 18.

Mukherjee was then serving as India's external affairs minister and revealed the details in his new book, the third volume of his autobiography, The Coalition Years, 1996-2012, launched on Friday. 

The Indian minister had learned of Qureshi's press conference the day after the four-day attack began. He says in his book that he decided to call a journalist and interrupt the presser, and asked the journalist to inform the Pakistani foreign minister that he wanted to speak to him urgently. 

During their conversation on the phone, Mukherjee asked Qureshi to immediately leave the country and also offered the latter his official aircraft. However, Mukherjee writes, The Pakistan high commission conveyed Qureshi’s regards to him and said a Pakistani air force aircraft would take him home.

The attack in Mumbai had claims over 150 lives and injured more than 300.