NEW DELHI, Jan 19: India’s foreign minister, keeping up pressure on Pakistan to act against militants blamed for the Mumbai attacks, said on Monday that countries failing to clamp down on terrorism would pay a heavy price.

Tension has run high between the two countries since the November attacks. India has blamed them on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The group denies involvement.

“Countries found wanting in their commitment to zero tolerance of terrorism will be made to pay a heavy price by the international community,” Pranab Mukherjee told a conference.

“Our diplomatic efforts in dealing with terrorist states will continue unabated.”

Indian officials are frustrated at what they see as Pakistan’s slow response in arresting the attack’s planners.

While Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the attacks must have had the support of official agencies within Pakistan, the United States and its allies have stepped back from blaming the Pakistan government.

Pakistan has condemned the Mumbai attacks from the outset and denied involvement of any of its agencies. It has offered to cooperate with India by setting up a joint team to investigate.

India has not accepted the offer.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Miliband said in an Indian TV interview that Islamabad must move away from the stance towards LeT he says it held under former president Pervez Musharraf.

Miliband has been criticised by Indian leaders during his recent visit to India and Pakistan for seeking a settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

“It’s very important that the so-called carousel-and-engage approach is one that is changed, because it obviously doesn’t work,” he told CNN-IBN news channel on Sunday.

“It was an approach which recognised that LeT did pose a threat but also recognised that they had to engage with the LeT.”—Reuters