NEW DELHI, Dec 23: A day after Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee came close to creating a scare when he declared that India might act on its own if the world failed to get Pakistan to arrest alleged terrorists named by New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened to tone down the rhetoric, saying war was not the issue.

Indian news agencies, quoting Dr Singh, said he sought to allay fears of a war with Pakistan and said no one wanted a war. “There’s no question of war. That is not the issue,” he told journalists after attending parliament.

A statement by India’s foreign ministry spokesman conveyed the impression that Dr Singh’s remarks against war hysteria were aimed at Pakistan and not Mr Mukherjee. In response to a question “on reported statements from Pakistan about the right to defend their borders, in case of any aggression”, the Indian spokesperson said: “The talk of war or creating war hysteria is diversionary. The issue is not defence of Pakistan but a terrorist attack on India from Pakistan.”

Even if that interpretation was valid, Mr Mukherjee’s unsettling comments on Monday appeared to stand neutralised by Dr Singh’s intervention. Addressing Indian ambassadors from different world capitals in New Delhi Mr Mukherjee had warned on Monday that if the international community failed to get Pakistan to take effective action then “we are also clear that ultimately it is we who have to deal with this problem. We will take all measures necessary, as we deem fit, to deal with the situation”.

Meanwhile, Press Trust of India reporting from Beijing quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang as urging India and Pakistan to maintain calm and to work together to investigate the “cause” of the terror attack on Mumbai and identify its mastermind.

“We hope to see the improvement of Indian-Pakistani relations,” the spokesperson told a regular press conference. He was responding to questions on the tense South Asian situation after last month’s terror attacks in Mumbai.

The identity of the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks “awaited further investigation by concerned countries,” the spokesperson said, indicating, according to PTI, that Beijing was still unsure about New Delhi’s assertion that all the 10 attackers were Pakistanis.

He called on India and Pakistan to “work together through peaceful consultations to investigate the cause of the attacks and combat terrorism,” the official Xinhua news agency reported. “We hope the region will maintain its peace and stability,” Mr Qin said.

He said improvement and development of the relationship between India and Pakistan, both important nations in South Asia, would help regional peace and stability. China would, as always, support efforts by both countries to improve bilateral relations and safeguard regional peace, Mr Qin said. He noted that China had strongly denounced the Mumbai attacks. “We agree that the international community should cooperate to fight terrorism,” Mr Qin said.

Dr Singh too stressed the importance of international help. He said: “Pakistan government knows what to do. The terror machinery has to be dismantled. The international community should use its power to persuade Pakistan to end terrorism.” Significantly, he also said that the non-state actors were practising terrorism aided and abetted by state establishments.