India, Pakistan Trade Harsh Rhetoric

The Indian leadership Saturday issued its harshest rhetoric yet after the suicide terrorist attack on Parliament, accusing Pakistan of sponsoring the carnage and threatening to blast terrorist camps.

Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, put the army on high alert, said there was no proof that the attackers operated from or were supported by his country and warned India against reprisals.

The Indian prime minister said Pakistan was inspiring terrorists, and his interior minister said Thursday’s daring attack called for an “extraordinary” response.

“A neighboring country was inspiring the terrorists in carrying out subversive acts in India. The sponsors are destined to doom,” Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said during a university convocation.

Musharraf warned against “any kind of precipitous action by the Indian government.”

“We will take action against anybody involved in Pakistan in these acts, if at all proved. We would not like Pakistani territory to be used against any country, including India,” he said.

The five-man suicide attack killed seven others at the Parliament compound, and the Indian government is under pressure to take tough action against Pakistan.

India says the attackers were Islamic guerrillas from the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba. The government has demanded that Pakistan shut down Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed, a second militant group also fighting for independence for the Indian province of Kashmir.

Those groups Saturday repeated their denial that they were involved in the attack.