India's prime minister signaled Tuesday that his government would not act unilaterally against the extremist networks allegedly behind last month's Mumbai terrorist attacks, attempting to ease tensions over accusations that Pakistan is not hunting down the militants on its territory.
Speaking after meeting with India's ambassador corps, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he would rely on international pressure to push Pakistan into taking action itself against groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India and its Western allies believe orchestrated the attacks.
Singh's comments came after days of increasingly heated rhetoric on both sides and military maneuvers by the Pakistanis. On Monday, Pakistan scrambled fighter jets over several of its major cities, citing the need to step up "vigilance."
The sorties came after India's foreign minister told the same gathering of ambassadors, who are in New Delhi for three days of meetings, that "we will take all measures necessary as we deem fit" to deal with terrorist threats. The statement appeared to put military action back on the table after weeks of insistence that India would rely on diplomacy.
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