Pakistan must rein in terrorists, says India's PM

The bombers who targeted Mumbai’s rail system had support from inside Pakistan, India’s prime minister said, warning that the nuclear-armed rivals’ peace process could be derailed unless Islamabad reined in terrorists.

Manmohan Singh’s unusually blunt comments appeared to signal a major shift in relations between India and Pakistan, whose ties had warmed over the past two years.

The carefully co-ordinated bombings shattered first-class commuter train carriages on Tuesday, killing more than 200 people.

“We will leave no stone unturned – I reiterate, no stone unturned – in ensuring that terrorist elements in India are neutralised and smashed,” Singh said in Mumbai.

Singh, who met bomb victims and officials, noted that Pakistan had assured India two years ago its territory “would not be used to promote, encourage, aid and abet terrorism”.

“That assurance has to be fulfilled before the peace process and other processes progress,” he said.

Pakistan quickly denied Singh’s accusations, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam calling them “unsubstantiated”.

But Singh said investigators were certain that terror cells operating in India “are instigated, inspired and supported by elements across the border, without which they cannot act with such devastating effect”.

“They clearly want to destroy our growing economic strength,” Singh said.

After coming to the brink of war in 2002, India and Pakistan began a peace process that has brought them closer, yet concrete agreement on the most pressing issue – the Himalayan region of Kashmir – has been minimal.

Scheduled talks for July 20 between the foreign secretaries of the two countries appeared increasingly unlikely, with some news reports saying they had been cancelled. Navtej Sarna, the Indian foreign ministry spokesman, said only that no announcement had been made.

Investigators were casting a wide net for the assailants – focusing on a Pakistan-based Islamic militant network, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, along with smaller home-grown groups.

Three people are being hunted in connection with the Mumbai blasts. Police say two of them have been on the run since May, when authorities arrested three suspected Muslim militants and seized arms, ammunition and plastic explosives in western India.