He pointed out that the composite dialogue process with Pakistan has been at a “pause” but emphasised that India has “no quarrel” with the people of Pakistan. “We do not think that they should be held responsible or face the consequences of this situation. We have, therefore, consciously and after due deliberation not thought it necessary or fit to curtail people-to-people contacts, trains and road links,” he said. But he said India “will continue to review the situation including Pakistan’s responses and will take further steps that we deem necessary in order to protect our people.”

“In their official response, the Pakistan authorities have admitted that elements in Pakistan were involved in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai... This is a positive development,” Mukherjee told the House.

Noting that the Mumbai attack was not the first terror strike in India that had emanated from Pakistan, he said “nonetheless, with Mumbai, a threshold was crossed and it was imperative that Pakistan act credibly against that infrastructure to prevent further attacks.”

Pakistan, he said, engaged in “prevarication, denial, diversionary tactics and misplaced sense of victimhood” after the Mumbai attack. “I do not discount in any way either their intent or their sincerity but the fact remains that the overwhelming official response of Pakistan to the Mumbai attack was not appropriate to a terrorist attack where innocents were massacred in cold blood.”