Speaking about his meeting with Gilani, Manmohan Singh said: 'I conveyed to him the strong sentiments of the people of India over the issue of terrorism, especially the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.'

'I also conveyed to Prime Minister Gilani that sustained, effective and credible action needs to be taken not only to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to justice, but also to shut down the operations of terrorist groups so as to prevent any future attacks,' he added.

With the contentious formulation on delinking terrorism from the composite dialogue creating a controversy in India, the prime minister reminded Pakistan about its 2004 anti-terror pledge.

'As the joint statement says, action on terrorism should not be linked to the composite dialogue process, and, therefore, cannot await other developments. It was agreed that the two countries will share real time, credible and actionable information on any future terrorist threats,' he said.

'It has been and remains our consistent position that the starting point of any meaningful dialogue with Pakistan is a fulfilment of their commitment, in letter and spirit, not to allow their territory to be used in any manner for terrorist activities against India,' he stressed.

The prime minister's statement echoed the 2004 anti-terror pledge Pakistan gave to India that formed the basis for the resumption of dialogue between the two countries that year - nearly three years after the attack on the Indian parliament in which Pakistan militants were allegedly involved.

The joint statement at the end of talks between Manmohan Singh and Gilani Thursday took many by surprise, with critics and opposition parties seeing in it a dilution of India's stand on cross-border terrorism. Unlike in the past, the joint statement did not even mention the 2004 anti-terror pledge.

Manmohan Singh informed the house that India was reviewing the dossier of investigations into the Mumbai attacks provided by Pakistan. He also told parliament about Gilani's assurance that Pakistan will do everything in its power to bring the perpetrators of the Nov 26 attacks to justice.

'He also told me that there is consensus in Pakistan against the activities of these terrorist groups, that strong action is being taken and that this is in Pakistan's own interest,' Manmohan Singh maintained.