WASHINGTON, Dec 12: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that in her recent visit to India, she urged Indian leaders not to take actions that could destabilise the region.

“Anything that, in fact, would make the situation worse or might introduce unintended consequences is not going to be good for the stability of the region,” said Ms Rice. “It isn’t going to address what needs to be done, and that was also my message to India.”

The top US diplomat visited India and Pakistan early this month, days after terrorist attacks in Mumbai threatened to escalate tensions between South Asia’s two nuclear powers.

Talking about her visit, Ms Rice told CNBC television she talked with the Indians “about a response (to the Mumbai attacks) that would actually be commensurate with the goals. The goals are to bring the perpetrators to justice and to prevent a follow-on attack.”

She also urged Pakistan to ‘act forcefully’ to stem terror threats, although she acknowledged that the Pakistani government wanted to do the right things concerning terrorism.

Noting that the Pakistani soil had been used by non-state actors to carry out the attacks, she advised Pakistan to take at least some steps that might lead to those two goals: bringing the perpetrators to justice and getting India and Pakistan to cooperate to make certain that future attacks did not take place.

“And so that was the purpose of the trip,” she added.

When asked if she thought there would be a war between India and Pakistan, Ms Rice noted that she heard no bellicose talk from either of these governments and heard instead a very deep concern to deal with the situation. “But it’s obviously a dangerous situation. And Pakistan needs to act and act forcefully,” she added.

Ms Rice said that during her visit to Islamabad, she told Pakistani authorities that the Mumbai attacks were “of deep concern to the United States,” particularly because Americans were also killed.

Also at the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack told a briefing Washington believed that Pakistan had taken “some important steps” after the Mumbai attacks but it needed to do more.

“Our emphasis has been, in terms of the steps Pakistan has already taken, let’s make sure that everything is done to prevent any future terrorist attacks. And ultimately, people responsible have to be brought to justice ... but we’ll continue to work with both parties on this,” he said.