Stepping up the heat on Pakistan amid reports of movement of its troops from the western border trickled in, New Delhi today urged Washington and Islamabad’s friends China, Saudi Arabia and Iran to use their leverage and get Islamabad to dismantle its terror infrastructure.

The government backed this with an advisory that “it would be unsafe for Indians to travel or be in Pakistan”.

This came after Pak media reports that Indian nationals, “suspected” to be behind the Lahore blast, were arrested. Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma called the claim “hogwash” — in fact, a pro-Taliban group claimed responsibility for the blast.

Said the MEA spokesperson: “Since it has also been reported in the Pak media yesterday that the senior police officer in Lahore was unaware of the arrest in his city, it seems this is the work of other agencies in Pakistan that operate outside the law and civilian control.”

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee talked to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi on Thursday. He also talked to Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki today and met Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal. Mukherjee’s message was clear: India was dissatisfied over Pak’s “token action.”

On reports of Pak troops being mobilized, Mukherjee, after the Cabinet Committee on Security met this evening, said, “My request to friends in Pakistan would be (that) instead of diverting attention from the real issue, they should concentrate on how to fight against terrorists and how to bring to book the pepetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack. We have indicated to them that there are ample evidences from the log book of the captured ship (that terrorists used to sail to Mumbai), from the statellite phone (they used) ... that elements from Pakistan were responsible (for the Mumbai savagery).”

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