NEW DELHI, Nov 30: Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil told parliament on Thursday that the security situation in Kashmir had improved, comments seen as a snub to opposition demands to take a hardline in the ongoing peace talks with Pakistan.

“The situation in Jammu and Kashmir and in the north east has improved while the naxalite problem is under control and there has been no major communal conflict,” Mr Patil told the Rajya Sabha during a debate on the state of India’s internal security.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has mounted a scathing attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government for its alleged failure to check terrorism in the country. On Wednesday, opposition leader Lal Kishan Advani had raised the issue of dismantling of alleged terror infrastructure in Pakistan, stressing that it should be a key part of India’s talks with Pakistan’s leadership.

Criticising Dr Singh for his statement in Havana that Pakistan was also a victim of terrorism, Mr Advani sought a clarification from the prime minister. He asked if the comment was meant to be a “certificate” to Pakistan which even President Gen Pervez Musharraf may not have expected.

Moving an adjournment motion on the “failure” of the government to maintain security and deal with the “alarming growth” of terrorist menace in the country, he asked how could political parties “defend terrorists when they get caught over Afzal (parliament attack convict) or Madani (accused of Coimbatore bomb blast)” issues.