The powers-that-be in Pakistan never tire of declaiming how deeply committed they are to fighting terrorism, how they view terrorism (and not India) as their number one enemy.

And they seem to have settled on their number one weapon in the fight against terrorism: denial. They have consistently employed it in response to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in December, but yesterday they took this denial strategy to new heights:

…the country’s national security adviser was fired in Islamabad on Wednesday after publicly acknowledging that the lone surviving gunman appeared to be a Pakistani citizen, an allegation previously denied by Pakistani authorities.

In an interview with CNN, Mahmud Ali Durrani said there appeared to be proof that all 10 gunmen had Pakistani roots. Officials from the Foreign and Information ministries confirmed that assertion, but the Foreign Ministry later retracted its statement, and within hours, government officials and national TV channels reported that Durrani, a former intelligence chief, had been dismissed by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.