India slams Pak, says infiltration too has gone up

India on Tuesday said conscious fostering of terrorism from across the border was not helping Indo-Pak ties and asked the neighbour to contain it.

"Fostering of terrorism from across the border (by Pakistan) was not helping bilateral relations," Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju told reporters on the sidelines of a CII-sponsored naval seminar at the ongoing DefExpo in New Delhi.

"I hope the Pakistan government takes action to contain this (terrorism)," he said.

Raju was replying to questions on the increased infiltration by militants into Jammu and Kashmir in the last couple of months and what impact it could have on bilateral relations with Pakistan.

Describing the situation caused by infiltration and terrorism as "unfortunate," he said, "Infiltration by militants from across the border has increased in recent times. But we anticipate an increase every year as the snow melts in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir".

Compared to 2009, the number of militants infiltrating into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistani side has increased in January and February this year, which has been a major concern for India.

Raju refused to comment on a hitherto unknown breakaway faction of the Lashkar-e-Taiba claiming responsibility for the Pune blast.

To a query on the performance of indigenous rifles, Raju said the weapon system was found satisfactory and had been doing well. The rifle development had also led India to develop its own indigenous carbines, he said.

"However, if there is a need for more specialised weapons, we do go in for imports, as in the case of National Security Guard, for whom we had imported special personal weapons," the minister said.

On reports of finalisation of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier price after prolonged talks, Raju said he was aware that the discussions were complete, but the Cabinet Committee on Security was yet to decide on the revised price for the warship and hence he would not comment on it.