Responding to Pakistan's charge that it was running more than 55 militant training camps to carry out subversive activities against that country, India on Tuesday asked Islamabad to 'think, act and speak responsibly'.

"This is one more figment of Pakistan's imagination. One would have chosen not to comment on this absurd allegation but for the mindset it reveals," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters in Delhi. "It is a mindset that thinks of stopping at nothing to make a propaganda point," he said.

"The more Pakistan makes such wild allegations, the less will we and the international community believe that it is serious in dealing with its responsibility to end cross-border terrorism against India," he said.

New Delhi's retort comes in the wake of stepped-up anti-India tirade by Pakistan in recent days. Islamabad claims that India was preparing for military action in the Dras and Kargil sectors, a charge denied by the defence ministry.

"We would again underline that Pakistan should think, act and speak responsibly to make full use of the opportunity offered by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's initiative to improve relations between India and Pakistan, an objective to which Pakistan's government should show as much commitment as its people seem to have begun to show," Sarna said.

More reports from Pakistan