NEW DELHI, Sept 21: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condoled with his Pakistani counterpart Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday, describing Saturday’s suicide attack in Islamabad as an assault on democracy and pluralism.

Mr Singh’s carefully worded condolence message, which emphasised democracy as a target of the deadly attack, appeared to have left enough room to include suspected rogue elements, either from within or supported by the ISI, as being culpable.

The argument is expected to help the Indian prime minister in establishing a possible common thread, when he meets President Asif Ali Zardari in New York this month, between the recent attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul and the truck bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, sources said.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesman said Mr Singh in his letter to Mr Gilani “expressed deep shock and sorrow” at the attack.

The prime minister, according to the spokesman, condemned the act of terrorism and said such attacks were a grim reminder of “the challenges we face from destructive forces which have pitted themselves against the values of democracy and pluralism and the voices of moderation”.

The prime minister also stated that such forces threaten “peace and stability of each of us individually and all of us collectively” and that they should not be allowed to succeed.

“They must be dealt with and brought to justice,” Mr Singh wrote to Mr Gilani.

Indian officials say that the ISI was involved in the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, a view the Americans also seem to share.