'Keeping channels open does not mean surrendering our position on terrorism,' Mukherjee stressed, adding that Pakistan must act credibly and verifiably to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure operating from it's soil.

During his intervention in the debate Wednesday, Manmohan Singh Wednesday asserted that there was no dilution or rupture of national consensus on terrorism emanating from Pakistan but made it clear that the only alternative was to continue the engagement with Islamabad.

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

He also defended the inclusion of Balochistan in the July 16 India-Pakistan joint statement saying a unilateral reference does not mean giving credibility to Pakistan's allegations of any Indian role in unrest in Pakistan's southwest province.

'We have no role to play in Balochistan,' he said.