India PM calls for ‘normalized’ relations with Pakistan

India’s prime minister said Sunday he wants “normalized” relations with Pakistan amid rising tensions between the South Asian rivals following the Mumbai attacks that left more than 160 people dead.

Addressing an election rally in Indian Kashmir – a focal point of much of the tension between India and Pakistan – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he hopes relations between the neighbors can be “normalized,” but this cannot happen until “our neighbor stops allowing its territory to be used for acts of terrorism against India.”

Singh traveled to Khundru, a town in Kashmir, after a breakfast meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in New Delhi. The two leaders discussed the attacks on Mumbai, which have been blamed on a Pakistani-based Kashmiri militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

India has called on Pakistan to crack down on militant groups operating out of Pakistan.
Pakistan has carried out raids on a charity believed to be linked to Lashkar, but also urged India to provide further evidence.