New Delhi, Aug. 2 :     President Bill Clinton today supported India's peace efforts by condemning the killings in Kashmir and assured Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that he would talk to the Pakistani leadership and ask them to use their influence to stop further bloodshed. The Prime Minister's Office quoted Clinton as saying: 'He would speak to the leaders of Pakistan and do everything possible to contain such activities.' During the 15-minute conversation, Clinton was informed by Vajpayee of the brutality of the massacres and how efforts were being made to segregate communities. Vajpayee said Delhi would go ahead with its efforts to bring the militant groups to the negotiating table despite attempts to derail the peace process. The US President's virtual admonition of Pakistan follows Washington's repeated cautions to the military regime that it stop encouraging cross-border terrorism and create the atmosphere for resumption of talks in the spirit of the Lahore declaration. Clinton expressed admiration for the BJP government's 'positive response' to the ceasefire offer of the Hizbul Mujahideen. The telephone call from Washington came after a state department spokesman had already condemned the attack. Earlier, speaking in Parliament, Vajpayee echoed the Indian establishment's view that it was a desperate Pakistan, trying to draw the focus of the international community to the 'volatile' situation in Kashmir, which was behind the brutal killing of the Amarnath pilgrims. Pervez Musharraf denied the charge. He told the BBC: 'We certainly condemn' the killings. He said the two countries should seize the 'window of opportunity' provided by the Hizbul's ceasefire offer for resuming talks. Expressing the government's determination not to be cowed down by these acts, Vajpayee told Parliament that the killings were 'the handiwork of elements operating in the state either at the behest of Pakistan or getting direct instructions from it.' Some foreign ministry experts saw a two-pronged Pakistani policy in which the military regime was trying to claim credit for the Hizbul decision to come to the negotiating table, while at the same time keeping the heat up on India to resume bilateral talks by covertly encouraging groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Lashkar, however, has denied responsibility for the killings. 'It is against the grain of our struggle. Our jehad is directed at the Indian Army only,' it said.