NEW DELHI: Indian Premier Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that India would work with the international community to deny militants "launching pads" for attacks, and that they would not destabilise the country.

"There are some who would not like to see India succeed but we have shown over and over that we will not allow the forces of terrorism and extremism to destabilise our economy and society," Singh told a gathering in Chennai.

Earlier this week, New Delhi gave Islamabad what it said was evidence that the gunmen behind the November attacks on Mumbai had direct instructions from "elements" in Pakistan.

India has said diplomacy is the best way to convince Pakistan to crack down on Islamic militancy, but tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals have nonetheless escalated since the events in Mumbai, which killed 165 civilians.

Islamabad has angrily rejected Singh's previous allegations that the attacks had the support of some "official agencies" and that Pakistan used terrorism as an "instrument of state policy".

The Pakistani government, however, confirmed on Wednesday that the lone surviving attacker captured by India was a Pakistani national.


- AFP/so