Islamabad was certainly embarrassed over the disclosure that some of the terrorists who were involved in the Mumbai carnage were operating from its soil. However, when Islamabad pressed New Delhi for information on the local sleeper cells, the issue was brushed aside and the Pakistani side got no reply despite reminders.

The Pune blast has made New Delhi change its earlier policy of keeping wraps over Indian terrorists. It has admitted that sleeper cells are present in every big city of the country. For some reasons, now the government has no hesitation in saying that the Indian Mujahideen are behind some of the terrorist activity in India. There should be more information available with the intelligence agencies.

My objection is against coming to certain conclusions without much evidence. For example New Delhi may be correct in its assessment that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba is guiding the Indian Mujahideen from across the border. But it is quite possible that these home-grown terrorists have their own leaders to instruct them from within India. There is also the involvement of David Headley, a U.S. national of Pakistani origin, with whom India is trying to speak but Washington is getting in the way. New Delhi deflects attention from terrorism whenever it brings in Pakistan, although it was cautious at the time of Pune blast. As a result Indians get involved in anti-Pakistan rhetoric and lose proper perspective.

The real problem India faces is the growth of terrorism within. Fundamentalism is spreading through every nook and corner of the country. The young are being brainwashed by extremists of various hues. That Pakistan is drowned in terrorism is a cause of concern because it is bound to flow into India sooner rather than later. Indeed, had the two countries joined hands to fight against terror, people on both sides would have been better off. But mistrust again comes in the way. Most Indians are convinced that Pakistan is involved in promoting terror. Some Pakistani government agency, indeed, can still be blamed. But it looks as if the government of India has become more cautious and wants concrete evidence before putting the responsibility at the door of Pakistan.

More worrisome are the Hindu Taliban rearing their heads in India. The murder of police officer Hemant Karkare, who was nearing the disclosure of the Malegaon bomb blasts, was allegedly at the behest of Hindu extremist groups. Some people of substance have pointed fingers at the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal. Such instances may well cast a shadow on India's pluralistic polity. The right-wing BJP, which ruled India previously, may not be siding   with the communal organisations openly. But the overall control of these groups by the Hindu chauvinist RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), a BJP front, endangers the Indian secular ethos.

After the Pune blast I thought the consideration of peace and harmony would bring all parties together on one platform. Unfortunately, the BJP was the first to politicise the blast or, for that matter, terrorism. It picked on the government for not doing enough to make people feel safe. No doubt, the government should be doing more to combat terrorism. But this does not mean that other parties should withhold their cooperation with the government. The danger posed is not to the ruling Congress party alone, but to the nation as a whole.

The BJP should have learnt a lesson from the manner in which the entire Indian nation stood behind actor Shahrukh Khan, a Muslim. The Shiv Sena, a Hindu outfit, had to make a disgraceful retreat. And the issue, to the credit of the Indian people, was Shahrukh Khan's criticism of the Indian Premier League for not having allowed the Pakistan cricketers to participate in the T20 games.

For the BJP to link the Pune blast with the dialogue process between India and Pakistan is to introduce politics again. Terrorism endangers the entire region. Talks on terrorism have to be a priority. Yet there is no bar on any party to raise any other subject of mutual concern. But the point I want to emphasise is whenever talks between India and Pakistan are to be held, the BJP  reiterates its one-point anti-Pakistan programme.

As coincidence would have it, the terrorists struck in Pune just before the talks were scheduled. During the days of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, the BJP hawks were reined in by his foresight to reach an understanding with Pakistan. After his retirement, the RSS voices its aggressiveness through the BJP. Its session in Indore shows that. The hostility towards Pakistan was out in the open. If the talks are not a way to sort out things, then should India take to arms? The Hindu hawks have behind them the support of a widely watched television channel too which talks of aman (peace) but never tires of finding fault with Pakistan. This also goes for Indian and Pakistani ex-bureaucrats who have suddenly become participants in the non-official Track II talks between Islamabad and New Delhi. They are also the ones who are responsible for the embittered relations between India and Pakistan.

I recall when I was travelling with former prime minister Vajpayee in his bus across the border to Lahore he called me to show an urgent message on the killing of 11 Hindus in the Jammu region. He said some people, even in his own party, would criticise him for going ahead with the visit despite the killings. Yet he completed his mission and accepted a time-bound agreement. It was obvious to him that what happened in the Jammu region was meant to derail the talks even before they were firmly on track.

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