With the prime minister's reply as a backdrop, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who held the external affairs portfolio in the previous Manmohan Singh dispensation, Thursday eloquently defended the government's latest Pakistan diplomacy and reiterated that there was no surrender on the issue of countering cross-border terrorism.

'Neither have we succumbed to terrorism nor will we stop talking,' Mukherjee maintained.

'The NDA did it. The UPA did it. This is the way the world of diplomacy moves,' Mukherjee said while reminding parliament that over the last 10 years governments across the political spectrum in India kept talking to Pakistan despite brief disruptions after terrorist attacks.

'We can't erase Pakistan. It's going to exist. War is no solution,' Mukherjee said while underlining the importance of keeping talks going with Pakistan.

Mukherjee, during whose tenure as external affairs minister the 26/11 Mumbai attacks had taken place, clarified that talking did not mean the resumption of a full-fledged dialogue.

'Keeping channels open does not mean surrendering our position on terrorism,' Mukherjee stressed, adding that action against terrorism was independent of the composite dialogue.

'Pakistan must act credibly and verifiably to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure operating from its soil,' Mukherjee maintained.

Mukherjee also vehemently defended the Balochistan reference, echoing what the prime minister had said. 'It's a unilateral reference. The perception of Pakistan is not shared by us,' he pointed out.

Mukherjee also repudiated any suggestion of India's involvement in fomenting insurgency in Balochistan. 'We are victims of terrorism. We have no intention of exporting terrorism to any other country,' he maintained.

This defence, however, did not cut ice with the BJP, with member after member asking why Balochistan was included for the first time in a bilateral document between India and Pakistan.

The two-day debate had started with BJP leader Yashwant Sinha Wednesday shredding apart the joint statement, saying it showed the government had broken the national consensus on Pakistan. 'All the waters of the seven seas will not be able to wash the shame at Sharm el-Sheikh,' Sinha had said.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav also questioned the government's Pakistan diplomacy. But the treasury benches rallied around the prime minister with MPs thumping their desks in appreciation when he intervened in the debate, indicating that the much-speculated rift between the government and the party over the joint statement was a thing of the past.