Manmohan Singh said he conveyed to the Pakistani leader 'strongest sentiments of people of India' on terrorism, and specially the Mumbai attacks.'

A joint statement at the end of the meeting was seen as delinking terorrism from resumption of the 'composite dialogue' process, an interpretation that was denied by the prime minister but was nevertheless slammed by critics and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here as 'capitulation' to Pakistan over the issue of terrorism.

The BJP staged a walkout in protest against Manmohan Singh's statement, saying it allegedly compromised India's position on the sensitive issue of cross-border terrorism.