New Delhi, May 4: New Delhi has said the “momentous” killing of Osama bin Laden not too far from Islamabad will not alter the “universe of discourse” with the neighbour, reflecting a realisation that staying engaged is the best option to protect India’s interests.

“We don’t want to bring Pakistan to its knees,” said an Indian government source who did not want to be named because of the sensitive nature of the subject.

The comments swim against a tide of perception that the US may be compelled to dump Pakistan as its key ally in the war against terror. On the contrary, policymakers are veering round to the view that the Americans may find themselves indebted to Pakistan after the successful culmination of the operation against Osama.

“Pakistan’s strategic value will remain,” the government source said.

The source added the customary riders — ranging from cracking down on the terror machinery to making progress in the 26/11 prosecution — but emphasised that the two sides would have to behave like “grown-ups”.

“We have to keep dealing with each other in a grown-up fashion. We cannot use the giant swatter approach with Pakistan; after all, it was a part of us at one time,” said a government source, adding the neighbours were inextricably tied together “by destiny”.

“They have serious problems within that country at the moment, confronting the monster that they have played a role in creating... but we have to engage them on issues of normalisation,” the source said.

The foreign policy establishment does understand that the US must have made some commitments to Pakistan, which could be unpalatable to India. “However, we have to understand the logic of history and geography… (even if) we have to eat more bitterness,” the source added.

Adding that India was “alone” in its battle as each country was directed by its own interests, the source said there would always be strategic and security compulsions between the US and Pakistan.

New Delhi expects America to share with it information, especially on what increasingly looks like a possible Pakistani role in the elimination of Osama. The Indian government was told about Osama’s death about an hour before the official announcement was made by President Barack Obama on Monday morning (Indian time).

New Delhi is acutely aware of the possibility that Osama could not have lived in the garrison town of Abbottabad without the blessings or active complicity of the ISI.

The Indian government hopes the Americans would now try to keep the ISI out of the dealings in Afghanistan, especially if efforts are made to broker peace with elements of the Taliban.

India has several concerns about Afghanistan, many of them stemming from suggestions that the US might cite the death of Osama to fast-track its pullout from the troubled country after “reconciling” with the Taliban.

“There are hardcore elements in the Taliban who have been talking about the agenda for Afghanistan. That is not good for Afghanistan and not good for the region,” an official said.

The source added: “I don’t think the writing on the wall suggests the US will exit. Threat to the US continues. They won’t just cut and run because they had a success.”

Ruling out any unilateral strike on terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan on the lines of the US operation, the source said: “Foreign policy is not wish fulfilment.… There is a reasonable sober way of dealing with our neighbours.”

But the source added that the US would have to understand that without destroying terror camps in Pakistan, its success in killing Osama would not have “a sense of closure”.

US ambassador Timothy Roemer, who met home minister P. Chidambaram today, said Pakistan needed to act against terrorist outfits as well as 26/11 suspects Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.