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The newly elected United Progressive Alliance government reached out to the victims of the Lahore blast today that killed at least 40 people and injured hundreds.
Reacting to the bomb blast this morning, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said India "condemned the terrorist act unequivocally".
Speaking to CNN-IBN, Krishna added, "I believe there are many casualities. We condemn this attack in Lahore unequivocally. In fact we condemn all terror attacks worldwide. My heart goes out to the people, to the families of those who have lost their lives and we are monitoring the situation closely."
When referring to India-Pakistan ties, Krishna said the Mumbai attacks on November 26 had dealt a blow to relations and that the ball was "in Pakistan's court" to "set them right" after its initial denials on the nationality of the attackers.
"We as a country would like to be in peace with Pakistan. Every time we have reached certain critical stage something like this happens. 26/11 happened at a time when the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan was moving in a particular direction and we were pleased with the development. And then suddenly this heinous crime on India was perpetrated. First few days, Pakistan did not concede that the perpetrators were Pakistani or it was plan, hatched and executed from the soil of Pakistan. And ultimately Pakistan conceded the fact that they were all Pakistanis and the one who is in our custody is a Pakistani. Such being the case it will become extremely difficult for India to continue the composite dialogue unless Pakistan brings all those perpetrators of that crime to book to justice."