The statements came after a visit by Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna to Islamabad ended Friday on a sour note over what his counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said was India's "selective focus on terror".

The dialogue process "must go on" despite the chilly atmosphere, the Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.

"There is a gap in perception... but these are not unbridgeable divides," Rao said, but she underscored strongly that action by Islamabad to counter Islamic militant threats against India remained New Delhi's top concern.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan also wanted the talks process to continue.

"We want dialogues, they (India) too want dialogues so when there will be talks then we will discuss all issues," Gilani told reporters at Baloki, near the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

However, Rao told India's NDTV network a "terror machine" directed against India involving "state and non-state actors" continues to exist in Pakistan.

"Serious introspection is required by Pakistan into why terror has been used as an instrument of policy against India," she said.

Islamabad also needs to understand "why terror threatens the very fabric of Pakistan itself," Rao said, referring to the slew of deadly attacks in the country blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Rao's comments echoed statements on the eve of the talks by India's Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, whose accusations that Pakistan's intelligence service coordinated the Mumbai attacks cast a long shadow over the Islamabad meeting.

India's newspapers, meanwhile, on Saturday blamed Pakistan for creating the talks deadlock.

The Economic Times accused Islamabad of pushing ties "off the diplomatic rails... by sidelining New Delhi's main demand for action" against the Islamic militant perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people dead.

The Hindustan Times said Pakistan had engaged in "ambush diplomacy" by insisting on a timeframe to resolve such thorny issues as the row over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which has triggered two of three wars between the nations.

Qureshi on Friday accused India of "narrowing down the talks" by focusing exclusively on militancy rather than the range of disputes between the countries, including Kashmir and water rights.

He said Pakistan wanted the discussions to lead to creation of a "roadmap" for better relations.

Despite the failure to improve ties, Qureshi and Krishna agreed to meet again in New Delhi later in the year.

"What happened (in the talks) was unfortunate but they have to remain engaged, they have no viable option because the issues that bedevil their relationship are so complex," Uday Bhaskar, security analyst and head of the India's National Maritime Foundation think-tank, told AFP.

India and Pakistan's premiers met in April on the sidelines of a summit in Bhutan and set in motion the process of trying to revive contacts.

The thaw has been encouraged by Western allies, in particular by the United States, which sees regional stability as crucial to winning the war in Afghanistan and has pushed Pakistan to fight Taliban insurgents.

earlier related report
Pakistan PM urges more talks with India
Islamabad (AFP) July 17, 2010 - Pakistan's prime minister Saturday called for more dialogue with India, a day after his foreign minister accused New Delhi of limiting a talks process by refusing to discuss key issues separating the nuclear-armed rivals.

Indian newspapers blamed Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi for what they called the "failure" of talks this week aimed at building trust between the two countries.

Qureshi met his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna on Thursday in the third high-level contact between the countries during a six-month thaw in relations that were derailed by the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Saturday he believed India remained committed to the talks, despite comments from Qureshi accusing New Delhi of restricting the discussions.

"We want dialogues, they (India) too want dialogues, so when there will be talks then we will discuss all issues. At this point I cannot say something in the air," Gilani told reporters after an official function at Baloki, near the eastern city of Lahore.

"They (India) had told us that they want to talk on all issues and I am sure that Indian prime minister is an honourable man and he will fulfil all his commitments," Gilani said.

The talks were billed as a chance to build trust and the ministers made modest progress, focusing largely on the issue of cross-border militancy -- India's key concern -- and agreeing to meet again in New Delhi.

But Qureshi appeared to question Krishna's authority in comments to reporters on Friday.

"I did not leave the talks even once to discuss the progress by telephone," he told reporters Friday. "But why did instructions keep coming in from New Delhi in the presence of the Indian foreign minister?

"Who is the top foreign policy adviser for India?"

Krishna called this an "extraordinary statement to make" as he arrived back at New Delhi airport and said he did not take calls from anyone during the negotiations.

Qureshi also accused India of "narrowing down the talks" by focusing exclusively on militancy rather than the whole range of issues between the countries, including water and the status of the disputed region of Kashmir.

India's Hindustan Times on Saturday accused Pakistan of "ambush diplomacy" by seeking to set a fixed timeframe to resolve key issues such as the row over disputed Muslim-majority Kashmir, which has triggered two wars between the nations.

This led to the "meeting's failure," the newspaper said.

Even before talks got underway, comments from India's Home Secretary G.K. Pillai darkened the mood. He accused Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency of coordinating the Mumbai 2008 carnage that left 166 people dead.

India broke off all dialogue with Pakistan after the attacks, which New Delhi says were planned and executed by Pakistan-based militants with the connivance of Pakistani authorities.

India and Pakistan's prime ministers met in April on the sidelines of a summit in Bhutan which set in motion the process of trying to revive suspended contacts.

Relations between the two countries, which have fought three wars since the subcontinent was divided in 1947, have been plagued by border and resource disputes, and accusations of Pakistani militant activity against India.

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