Rajnath Singh said Pakistan's "flexible attitude towards terrorism" was hindrance in Indo-Pak relation.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said that Pakistan must "close down the factory of terrorism" and that India could help it act against terrorists if Pakistan sought its assistance.
"Pakistan's entire establishment is engaged in fueling terrorism in India and that's why the management of areas along the Indo-Pak border has become a challenging task...But those who rear snakes should know they would bite them," the minister said, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Pakistan the "mother-ship of terrorism."
"If its intentions remain clear, India can help Pakistan carry out an anti-terror campaign, including Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. If Pakistan wishes it can seek our help and India is ready to help it...But its intentions are not clear," Mr Singh said, emphasising that "India is against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, but does not have any ill will against the people of Pakistan."
Mr Singh, who was speaking at a conference of editors, described the surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Army across the Line of Control against terrorist launch pads as "pre-emptive action" and said India wants to eliminate terrorism from the entire region.
The minister said Pakistan's "flexible attitude towards terrorism" was the biggest hindrance in the two countries' relationship.
"This country shelters not just terrorists. It nurtures a mindset... that loudly proclaims that terrorism is justified for political gains," PM Modi said on Sunday at a meeting of BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - leaders in Goa, extending his government's diplomatic drive to isolate Islamabad after the attack on an army base in Uri in Kashmir last month by Pakistani terrorists, in which 19 soldiers were killed.
Pakistan has accused PM Modi of "misleading" the BRICS nations. "Pakistan's sacrifices in the war against terrorism are well acknowledged and repeatedly appreciated by the leadership of most countries in the world," said Sartaz Aziz, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's adviser on Foreign Affairs, in a statement.
Pakistan's all-weather friend China said today that India and Pakistan are both victims of terrorism and that it is against "the linking of terrorism to any specific country, ethnicity or religion."