This decision was taken when Manmohan Singh met Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg last month.

'We had a good, detailed discussion. He described the situation as he saw it, I told him our concern... we are still talking,' Menon said about his meeting with Bashir.

The issue of Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the alleged

mastermind of the 26/11 attacks whose case is up for hearing in the Pakistani Supreme Court, was also discussed.

Both the Punjab and the federal governments had appealed against his release by the Lahore High Court in June. But the Punjab government has withdrawn its appeal on grounds that there was not enough evidence against him.

India was still looking for clarity on the issue, Menon said.

He stressed on 'credible action' from Pakistan to bring the Mumbai perpetrators to book, and credible action to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism.

In an interview to the Indian TV channel NDTV, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Bashir had said after his meeting with Menon Tuesday night that a joint media appearance by Manmohan Singh and Gilani 'would probably be unavoidable'.

'The stakes here are too high just to link them to one or other issue. I think we are very clear on a lot of matters; we understand the Indian position that is centred on the issue of Mumbai and post Mumbai. We want to get past that,' he said in response to a question on Hafiz Saeed.