India steps up pressure on Pakistan

Relatives of the victims attend a memorial service

India has stepped up pressure on Pakistan following the attack on parliament in Delhi last Thursday which it blamed on Kashmiri militants.

Prime Minister Vajpayee: A limit to restraint

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said India had now reached the limits of its tolerance.

"We cannot tolerate such attacks any more," he told a meeting of businessmen in the Indian city of Calcutta.

Earlier, Home Minister LK Advani had said that India would wait "for a few days" for Pakistan to take action against two militant groups operating in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Delhi has blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba group for the attack on parliament, in which 12 people died.

It wants this group as well as another, Jaish-e-Mohammad, to be closed down by Pakistan.

But Pakistan has responded to the escalating Indian rhetoric with a warning that it was ready to retaliate if India took action against it.

Pakistani warnings

Mr Vajpayee said India exercised restraint during the 1999 border conflict in Kashmir.

"Again we are being told to show restraint. We have shown a lot of patience, but there is a limit," he said.

Pakistani spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, told the BBC that Pakistan was ready to retaliate if any action was taken against Pakistan or Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

I'd like to warn against any precipitous action by the Indian Government against Pakistan

President Pervez Musharraf

He repeated that the government in Islamabad condemned what had happened at the Indian parliament, and would take action against any group using its soil for terrorist acts if there was evidence against them.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had earlier warned of "very serious repercussions" if India took any action against it.

India says it is holding 10 people, including several Pakistani nationals, in connection with the attack.

Mr Advani described the parliament attack as the "most dangerous one" in the last decade.

"This adventure will cost dearly to the terrorists, their organisations and those nations supporting these organisations," he added.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir since independence in 1947.