NEW DELHI, Aug 15: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged Pakistan on Tuesday to take concrete steps against alleged cross-border terror attacks against India to ensure that peace talks between the countries bear fruit.

Dr Singh was speaking from behind a bullet-proof glass wall at the Red Fort to mark India’s Independence Day.

Rumours of an attack forced premature closure of a function in Srinagar.

The prime minister said terrorism and Naxalism were the two main challenges India faced.

Terrorism was also a key impediment in the quest for a borderless South Asian economic community, he said.

“Our past and destinies are inter-linked,” Dr Singh said. “However, the dream of a South Asian community, where borders have ceased to matter and there is an unhindered flow of goods and peoples, culture and ideas, can hardly be realised if terrorist violence and the politics of hate and confrontation continue to cast a dark shadow.”

India was prepared to work together with all neighbours to usher in an era of peace and prosperity for their citizens, he said.

He said India had taken several initiatives in this regard, in particular with Pakistan. These initiatives needed an atmosphere of peace to succeed, he said.

“It is obvious that unless Pakistan takes concrete steps to implement the solemn assurances it has given to prevent cross-border terrorism against India from any territory within its control, public opinion in India, which has supported the peace process, will be undermined,” Dr Singh said.

He said terrorism “must be confronted with our united efforts. There is a large constituency for peace and shared prosperity among our people and we must work together to build on that.”

Referring to the Mumbai blasts on July 11, he recalled saying at the time that it could not be “business as usual for any of us”. “The people of Jammu and Kashmir continue to face the wrath of terrorism. But they have also seen new rays of hope for peace and progress,” he said.