THIMPHU, Feb 6(TOI): A day ahead of the crucial foreign secretary-level dialogue here, Pakistan tried to queer the pitch by declaring that India did not have the courage to handle Hindu terror.

The provocation came from Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Basit: "India seems to be lacking courage to unearth culpability of Hindu extremists and their links with some Indian Army personnel."

The Indian side was taken aback by the comment because both sides seemed to be settling down perfectly for a dialogue on Sunday, leading to speculation about a possible thaw in the relationship after the disastrous meeting of the foreign ministers last July.

Indian officials refused to get drawn into a slanging match of the Saarc ministerial meet. They are even maintaining that they remain "cautiously optimistic" about the outcome of the talks.

Sources, however, acknowledged that with Pakistan again resorting to gamesmanship to push India on to the back foot hours ahead of the talks, success of efforts to restore normalcy in ties will remain uncertain.

To Basit's statement that India lacked the courage to punish those behind the attack on Samjhauta Express, New Delhi's response was restrained. "We don't want to vitiate the atmosphere. The fact is that the Samjhauta attack is still being investigated. In the context of the dialogue, our attempt is to unlock the process and find the right combination. We remain cautiously optimistic about the outcome of the talks," said a source here on condition of anonymity. He said Basit's comment seemed aimed at putting India on the defensive even though there was "no comparison" between Samjhauta blasts and 26/11 strikes. While admitting that Pakistan seemed set to rake up the Samjhauta issue on Sunday, the source said even India can ask Pakistan about what action it has taken against Arif Kasmani, an LeT operative identified earlier by the US as one of the main accused in the Samjhauta case.

However, as Pakistan made it amply clear that it has now acquired another stick in the form of Hindu terror, there were enough indications to suggest that there was no softening of stand by the Indian side on issues which have led to the current stalemate. While Pakistan is again all set to link its demand for a timeline for discussing politically sensitive issues to progress in investigations into the Mumbai attacks, sources said India is not going to buy this argument.