Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Monday on the world to pressure Pakistan to rein in extremists but said he had no regrets about his restraint after last year's grisly assault on Mumbai.
India has demanded Pakistan crack down on militants behind the coordinated attack, which left 166 people dead in the emerging power's largest city. But Singh did not threaten military action against India's historic rival.
"There was enormous pressure on me at that time," Singh said at the Council on Foreign Relations on a state visit to Washington.
"I resisted that pressure and I think the decision that I and our government took was on balance the right decision," he said.
Singh said that India's restraint showed why the world should pressure Pakistan to "use all its influence to curb the power of the terrorist groups."
Pakistan has taken some action but, Singh said, "it is our sincere belief that it has not acted as it should have acted in dealing with terrorist elements who are using their energy to target our country."
Singh's approach last year delighted the United States, which was encouraging Pakistan to take troops off its border with India and devote them to fighting Taliban extremists on the frontier with Afghanistan.
{{/usCountry}}Singh's approach last year delighted the United States, which was encouraging Pakistan to take troops off its border with India and devote them to fighting Taliban extremists on the frontier with Afghanistan.
{{/usCountry}}But despite the military restraint, the attacks froze a delicate peace process that had steadily eased tension between India and Pakistan since 2004.
Singh said that if Pakistan shows commitment against militants, "We are ready to pick up the threads of the dialogue, including on issues relating to Jammu and Kashmir."
But Singh said India's red line was that it would not withdraw the border in Kashmir, the Muslim-majority Himalayan territory that has been the focal point of two of the three full-fledged wars between the South Asian neighbors.