Visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday denied the terrorists who attacked Mumbai had travelled by boats from Karachi.
He snapped back at the media in Chandigarh asking the question: "Have you seen the boat? Could you travel on that boat from Karachi? The media should be supportive and understanding. It's too early to say anything."
Asked what he thought of Pakistan getting the blame for the Mumbai attacks, Qureshi quipped: "I have not heard anyone make any such remarks."
He sough a hotline between the intelligence chiefs of India and Pakistan and offered his government's full cooperation to India to nab those behind the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
'I was shocked and horrified to hear about the barbaric incident that took place in Mumbai. I condemn this tragic incident in the strongest possible terms," he said in a statement circulated in New Delhi by the Pakistani high commission.
Alluding to the deadly terror strike at Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in September, Qureshi said: "We, in Pakistan, are dealing with terrorism on a daily basis. People of India know that we suffered similar attack in Islamabad at the Marriott Hotel recently. So we understand their concern, anxiety and the shock and horror this attack has generated all over India."
Calling terrorism a "global phenomenon," he exhorted all civilised societies "to join hands and pool in their resources to deal with this menace."
Recalling his talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday during a chat with the media in Chandigarh, he suggested that both India and Pakistan strengthen the joint anti-terror mechanism to combat terrorism. "I pointed out that both Pakistan and India are victims of terrorism and will have to further strengthen the joint anti terror mechanism to deal with this scourge,"