New Delhi: Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf condemned the Samjahuta Express blasts as an act of terrorism and said, ''We will not allow elements which want to sabotage the ongoing peace process (to) succeed.''
Meanwhile Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared India's ''abhorrence for this heinous terrorist act,'' and expressed condolences to Islamabad for the many Pakistani victims.
India will do ''everything possible to ensure that its perpetrators are punished,'' Singh said. No one was saying who the perpetrators might be perhaps aware of how deep the divide between India and Pakistan remains.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said there were ''all kinds of terrorists'' who could be responsible possibly hinting that Hindu extremists could have carried out the bombing to scuttle the peace process or stir up religious violence. About 84 percent of India's more than 1 billion people are Hindu. Muslims account for about 14 percent.
An Indian Home Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said no suspects had been ruled out from Kashmiri separatists to Hindu extremists.
Sunday night's attack fell just over a week short of the fifth anniversary of Godhra tragedy, which had sparked weeks of religious riots in the Gujarat. More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslim, were killed in the violence.
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