Pak agencies may have backed Mumbai attack: PM

Accusing Pakistan of using terror as an instrument of state policy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said evidence showed that some "Pakistani official agencies" must have provided support to the Mumbai terror attack given their sophistication and military precision.

"The terrorist attack in Mumbai in November last year was carried out by a Pakistan-based outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"On the basis of the investigation carried, (including by agencies of some foreign countries whose nationals were killed), there is enough evidence to show that given the sophistication and military precision of the attack, it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan", he told a meeting of chief ministers here.

 He also said that Pakistan is whipping up war hysteria. "It is a difficult time for the country...Terrorism has been sponsored from outside."

In an apparent reference to Bangladesh, Singh said militants from India's north-east are being sheltered by the neighbouring country.

Singh said terrorism, naxalism and insurgency constitute major challenges of the country's internal security and that time has come to create a permanent crisis management group to tackle terrorist attack-like situations.

He also said information sharing among agencies was most important.