NEW DELHI, Oct 5: The Indian foreign ministry on Thursday rejected remarks attributed to US Ambassador in Pakistan Ryan Crocker that New Delhi should not have made public claims it had evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai blasts.

Answering a question about Mr Crocker’s reported comments, a foreign ministry spokesman said: “We have seen the remarks attributed to Ambassador Crocker. Coming from a democracy like the United States, one would have expected Ambassador Crocker to understand that democratic governments have a primary responsibility to keep their own people fully informed.”

India and Pakistan recently agreed to set up a joint mechanism to help each other combat terrorism. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said this week that the Mumbai blasts case would test the efficacy of the mechanism. His remarks came after the Mumbai police chief’s claim that the ISI had a direct hand in July attack on packed commuter trains that killed nearly 200.