NEW DELHI - INDIA'S Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday reached out to Pakistan after months of tension following the Mumbai attacks, saying India would meet its neighbour 'more than half way' if Pakistan cracked down on militants.

India had put a pause on slow-moving peace talks with Pakistan after New Delhi blamed a militant strike on the financial hub on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

'I expect the Government of Pakistan ... use every means at their disposal to bring to justice those who had committed these crimes in the past, including the attack on Mumbai,' Mr Singh said in an address to parliament.

The speech came only weeks after his resounding election victory that gave the Congress-led government a strong mandate in its second term.

'If the leaders of Pakistan have the courage, the determination and the statesmanship to take this road of peace, I wish to assure them that we will meet them more than half way,' Mr Singh added.

India has also blamed some Pakistani state agencies of backing the attack that killed 166 people in November.

Islamabad denied official involvement but has acknowledged the raid had been launched and partly planned from Pakistan.

India said last week it wanted to normalise relations with its old rival, with whom it has gone to war three times since independence, but reacted angrily to the release of the LeT's founder by Pakistan's Supreme Court.

Indian experts had said the release from house arrest of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was a setback for the resumption of talks.

India gave Pakistan a dossier of information shortly after the Mumbai attacks and followed it up last month with what it said was more evidence that Pakistan could use to prosecute the guilty. -- REUTERS