Pakistan threatening to become failed state - India

A video grab shows gunmen firing in the direction of a police vehicle in Lahore March 3, 2009.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said Pakistan was threatening to become a failed state and it was not clear who was in control of the country, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on Friday.

"It (Pakistan) is not a failed state, but it is threatening to become one," Chidambaram said at a seminar in Mumbai, where armed men killed 166 people last November.

"A great concern is weighing on our minds. In Pakistan, with regret, I would say we don't know who is in control there. Whether it is the army or the president or the government," Chidambaram was quoted as saying.

New Delhi has blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba for the Mumbai attacks and said its nuclear-armed rival has done little to clamp down on militant activity on its soil.

Pakistani authorities were also criticised for poor security arrangements after armed men fired at the Sri Lankan cricket team as they drove to a stadium in Lahore on Tuesday.

Seven Pakistanis, six policemen and the driver of a bus carrying match officials, were killed. Six Sri Lankan players and two team officials were wounded.

India also expressed concern at the growing influence of the Taliban in Pakistan and the government's inability to control the militants.

"Revival of Talibanism is nothing but total danger to Pakistan, total danger to the entire region," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi on Friday.