Manmohan asks Pakistan to fulfil anti-terror pledge
"It is clear that unless Pakistan takes concrete steps to honour the pledge it has made to crack down on anti-India groups operating from areas under its control, public support (in India) for the peace process would diminish," Singh said in his Independence Day address to the nation.
He said South Asia needs "an atmosphere of peace" to lift its hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "Our neighbours must realise that terrorism can affect anyone anywhere," Singh said in his speech delivered from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort here.
In January 2004, India and Pakistan agreed to start a peace process and Islamabad agreed to crack down on militants who crossed into Jammu and Kashmir.
"India is facing two major threats to its internal security - terrorism and Naxalism," the Indian Prime Minister said.
Singh said just over a month ago, Mumbai witnessed the most inhuman terrorist attack in the recent past, killing and injuring hundreds of innocent citizens.
"Terrorists want to undermine our growing economic strength, destroy our unity and provoke communal incidents. We cannot allow this to happen. Our strength lies in our unity. We will not allow the secular fabric of our country to be broken," he said.
"Let those, who want to hurt us by inflicting a thousand cuts, remember -- no one can break our will or unity. No one can make India kneel," he added.
Assuring the nation that the government would do its utmost to preserve its unity and integrity, he said "we will modernise, strengthen and properly equip our security forces and our intelligence agencies. We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that terrorist elements in India are neutralised and smashed."
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