NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday that he had asked President Asif Ali Zardari to tackle anti-India militants with the same enthusiasm as was being shown in the battle with Taliban.

‘I conveyed to President Zardari the full extent of our expectation that the government of Pakistan take strong and effective action to prevent the use of Pakistan’s territory for terrorist attacks against India, act against the perpetrators of past attacks and dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan. The president of Pakistan told me of Pakistan’s efforts to deal with this menace and the difficulties that they face,’ Dr Singh told Indian journalists on the way back from Yekaterinburg in Russia where the two leaders had met on Tuesday.

Dr Singh said he had told President Zardari that ties between the two countries remained under considerable stress, primarily because of unending terror attacks in India from across the border.

He said the foreign secretaries of both countries would meet to discuss ‘what Pakistan is doing and can do to prevent terrorism from Pakistan against India and to bring to justice those responsible for these attacks, including the horrendous crime of the attacks in Mumbai’.

The Indian prime minister said he had conveyed to President Zardari that ‘whereas Pakistan has now taken effective action against Taliban and Al Qaeda, we have a feeling that those elements who are actively engaged in perpetrating terrorist acts in our country are not being brought to justice. So my expectation is that this meeting of foreign secretaries will tell us whether Pakistan has taken effective action and if it plans to take effective action against these perpetrators of terrorism.’

Their inputs will form the basis for another round of Zardari-Singh talks in Egypt. ‘They will report to us and we will take stock of the situation when we are at Sharm el Sheikh for the non-aligned summit in mid-July.’

Dr Singh said his vision was one of a cooperative subcontinent, and of the vital interest that India and the people of the subcontinent had in peace.

‘For this we must try again to make peace with Pakistan. It also requires effective and strong action against the enemies of peace.

‘If the leaders of Pakistan have the courage, determination and statesmanship to take the high road to peace, India will meet them more than half-way. These were the ideas and sentiments that I shared with the president of Pakistan,’ he said.

‘There was no mention of Kashmir in our discussions,’ Dr Singh said about his meeting with President Zardari. ‘He did not raise it nor did I. He did mention to me the difficulties that Pakistan is facing in containing terrorism and asked us to bear with him, give him some more time.’

Prime Minister Singh renewed his offer of talks with Kashmiri groups.

‘I have always said that we would be happy to engage in a dialogue with any groups, and I mean any groups, talking to us. That option is open and we will welcome even those groups who are not in the political mainstream,’ he said. ‘If they have any views, we are quite willing to discuss with them.’

He said in the past too he had invited leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) for talks. ‘They said they would send us proposals, but they never sent us any proposals. They said there were too many people detained. I asked them to give me a list of people who they felt had been detained without purpose, but they never gave any list. I am not complaining. We are willing to engage in dialogue with anyone who is willing to shun the use of gun.’

Apparently referring to the alleged rape and murder of two Kashmiri women by Indian security forces personnel recently, Dr Singh described the incident as unfortunate. ‘If there was any violation of human rights we will take effective action.’

He said his government was keen to solve the problems of development in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, in Srinagar, the APHC lauded the talks between the Indian and Pakistani leaders, terming them vital for regional security.