New Delhi, July 29 - Under fire from the opposition, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday asserted there was no dilution or rupture of national consensus on countering terrorism emanating from Pakistan, but made it clear there was no alternative but to continue the engagement with Islamabad.

Allaying apprehensions over the move to delink action on terrorism from the composite dialogue process as contained in the India-Pakistan joint statement issued in Egypt July 16, the prime minister told parliament that bilateral engagement or dialogue process can't move forward if terrorist attacks continue from across the border.

'It is, therefore, in our vital interest to make sincere efforts to live in peace with Pakistan. But despite the best of intentions, we cannot move forward if terrorist attacks launched from Pakistani soil continue to kill and injure our citizens, here and abroad,' Manmohan Singh said while replying ito the debate in the Lok Sabha on India-Pakistan issues and the government's recent foreign policy initiatives.

'That is the national position. I stand by it,' the prime minister said while forcefully repudiating the opposition's contention that the joint statement amounted to rupturing the national consensus over cross-border terrorism.

In his reasoned and spirited 45-minute intervention at the end of an intense debate, Manmohan Singh quite naturally focussed on his much-misunderstood Pakistan initiative

but also spoke on a wide range of issues, including relations with the US, climate change and a G8 statement objecting to nuclear commerce with countries that have not acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

According to the prime minister, 'it is impossible for any government in India to work towards full normalisation of relations with Pakistan unless the government of Pakistan fulfills, in letter and spirit, its commitment not to allow its territory to be used in any manner for terrorist activities against India.'

'The people of India expect these assurances to be honoured and this government recognizes that as the national consensus,' he maintained.

Manmohan Singh also disclosed for the first time to parliament the reason, which has intrigued many, that prompted a change in his position from his tough no-nonsense message to President Asif Ali Zardari at Yekaterinburg June 16 to his more nuanced position on engagement at the level of foreign secretaries in Egypt a month later during his talks with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.