In Wake of Attacks, India-Pakistan Tensions Increase

MUMBAI, India — In a new sign of rising tensions between two nuclear-armed neighbors, Indian Foreign Ministry officials summoned Pakistan’s ambassador on Monday evening and told him Pakistanis were responsible and must be punished for last week’s terrorist attacks here, in which 188 people were killed over three days in the heart of India’s commercial capital.

The Indian officials told the ambassador, Shahid Malik, that they expected “strong action would be taken” against those responsible for the attack, according to a statement released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

The statement added tartly that Pakistan’s actions “needed to match the sentiments expressed by its leadership that it wishes to have a qualitatively new relationship with India.”

Pakistani officials have said they are not aware that the attackers had any links to Pakistan-based militant groups, and that they would act swiftly if they found one. The attacks have raised tensions between the two countries to a level not seen since 2001, when an attack on the Indian Parliament pushed them to the brink of war.

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