“I did discuss (with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani) the Mumbai terror attack. Those who perpetrated the barbarous attack must be brought to justice,” Manmohan Singh told reporters on board his special aircraft while returning from the Saarc summit in the Maldives.

“I left Prime Minister Gilani in no doubt that if public opinion in India is not satisfied that justice is being done to those responsible to the barbarous attack, it won’t be possible to move forward with the peace process,” said Manmohan Singh. “We both recognise that if there is another attack like Mumbai, it will be a setback to the normalisation of relations. And that was understood by Prime Minister Gilani,” said the prime minister.

Singh’s clarification came two days after he held wide-ra­nging talks with his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the Saarc summit and amid the Bharatiya Janata Party’s accusation that he had gone soft on terror emanating from Paki­s­tan barely days before the third anniversary of 26/11 attack.

Pointing out that the relations between India and Pakistan are “subject to accidents,” Manmohan Singh took positive note of the decision of Pakistan to grant Most Favoured Nation status to India  and stressed on encouraging development in areas like trade and the willingness of Pakistan to discuss all issues, including that of terror.