In Pakistan to promote his controversial book on Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the Muslim founder of Pakistan, Singh said the nuclear-armed rivals should pursue dialogue despite strains caused by the attack, blamed on Pakistan-based Islamic militants.

“We have to counter terrorism and at the same time continue dialogue,” Singh told reporters in Karachi ahead of the Pakistan launch of the book. “Both are of absolute importance.”

Singh was expelled by his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year for writing the book sympathetic to Jinnah.

“Jinnah: India-Partition Independence” is seen as challenging the basic policy of the BJP, which demonizes the Muslim leader for demanding the creation of Muslim-majority Pakistan.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence from British rule in 1947, and launched a tentative peace process in early 2004.

India suspended those talks after the Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people, and senior diplomats held their first official dialogue in February, although no breakthrough emerged.

New Delhi complains Pakistan has not reined in the group or punished those responsible for Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, in Washington to attend a nuclear summit, called on Monday for ally the United States to help ease tensions with India.