ISLAMABAD, Dec 16: US Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s chairman-designate John Kerry has said that India is not aware of all that Pakistan has done to crack down on elements accused of being involved in last month’s terrorist attack in Mumbai.

Talking to journalists at the US ambassador’s house on Tuesday after meeting President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, he attributed the diplomatic standoff between Pakistan and India to misunderstanding and miscommunication between the two countries.

“Not all actions taken by Pakistan are known to India… More people have been detained by the Pakistani authorities than what is known to the Indians,” he said.

Senator Kerry will replace Senator Joe Biden as the head of the committee next month.

He said Pakistan appeared to be equally determined to prosecute anyone against whom sufficient evidence of involvement in the carnage was available.

“The leadership is very clear that they will prosecute the accused and will not only be temporarily closing down camps or making simple house arrests. They intend to prove their bona fide with respect to this effort.”

However, he cautioned that the bar was high for Pakistan to re-establish its credibility with India, particularly because of “unfulfilled promises” after an attack on the Indian parliament in 2001.

He urged both countries to resume their stalled dialogue.

Senator Kerry said he believed that Pakistan was sincere in actions it was taking against groups accused of involvement in the Mumbai attack.

He said he was particularly optimistic of the crackdown against terrorist groups this time to be different from that in the past because Pakistan itself had been a victim of terrorism and its government was confronted with the fundamental choice of whether or not to protect its people from violence.

“It is a very important choice and is also linked to economic realities,” he said, adding that although the US was committed to giving financial assistance to Pakistan, it wouldn’t help unless a firm understanding was given about how the government planned to deal with the terror groups operating from the country’s soil.

He said the Mumbai tragedy represented a moment of change in people’s attitude and thinking.

The US senator said the incident marked a transformation in relations between Pakistan and India and a shift in the understanding of what the challenge represented.

“I have heard condemnation of the incident from all leaders, who have also expressed determination not to allow individual entities like Lashkar-i-Taiba to make foreign policy decisions of the country, or to sidetrack the chosen path of the government and people of the country,” he said.

Senator Kerry said the country’s civil and political leadership were on the same page with respect to dealing with groups accused of involvement in the attack.

He said Pakistan’s civilian and military leaderships were cognisant of the need for rooting out any group that threatened to detract the country from the democratic path.

He stressed that the US would be monitoring Pakistan’s firmness in the crackdown. “We are going to watch and hopefully cooperate in the process because we have interest and we have a case.”

The US senator urged both Pakistan and India to work with countries which had been affected by the incident for eliminating terrorism and preventing such attacks.