New Delhi, January 6:

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the Mumbai attacks had the support of “some official agencies” in Pakistan, in his strongest accusation yet against the neighbouring country.

The premier also accused Islamabad of using terrorism as an “instrument of state policy” and said Pakistan had in the past also “encouraged and given sanctuary” to militants hostile to India.

“There is enough evidence to show that given the sophistication and military precision of the Mumbai attacks, it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan,” Singh told the media here.

Singh said the November 26-29 attacks were “clearly carried out” by the Pakistan-based outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

“Unfortunately, we cannot choose our neighbours, and some countries like Pakistan have in the past encouraged and given sanctuary to terrorists and other forces who are antagonistic to India.” Speaking at a conference of chief ministers of Indian states on internal security, the prime minister also said cross-border infiltrations from Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region had not stopped.

“The governments in some of our neighbouring countries are very fragile in nature. The more fragile a government, the more it tends to act in an irresponsible fashion,” Singh said.

The prime minister said the Mumbai attacks, which killed 172 people including nine gunmen, were designed to strike India’s economic and security interests. Westerners were particularly targeted during the attacks to “convey an impression that India was unsafe as a destination for the West and Western investments,” Singh told the chief ministers.

Singh called for increased vigilance along sea routes, greater intelligence sharing and strengthened security to prevent further attacks.

“There is need to review the effectiveness of our set-up for the collection of technical signalling and human intelligence,” the premier said.