NEW DELHI, Sept 29: US President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had, during their White House discussions on September 25, discussed if President Asif Ali Zardari would be able to deliver on promises to contain terrorism, and both expressed apprehensions about it, Indian newspapers said on Monday.

They quoted official sources travelling with the Indian prime minister as saying that Mr Bush and Mr Singh also agreed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency could not be allowed to “continue as a law unto itself” and needed to be reined in. Both leaders felt that Mr Zardari “must be given a chance” in this regard, The Asian Age said.

Mr Singh, speaking to journalists on his way to France on Sunday, said that with incidents of terrorism rising, the government was giving serious thought to a total overhaul of its intelligence network as well as a tougher anti-terrorism law.

Dr Singh referred to Saturday’s bomb blast in the Indian capital and said: “This outrage once again demonstrates we have to tighten our intelligence-gathering, strengthen our investigation (and) prosecution process.”

The Age said India’s National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan, during his talks in Washington, consulted US counterparts — including Undersecretary for National Intelligence and Analysis Charles Allen — on ways to combat terrorism. He asked about measures the United States had taken in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The NSA indicated that while it might not be possible to implement such steps across the board in India because of their draconian nature, the government was looking at the option of adopting some of these measures.

Times Now TV channel quoted its sources as saying that Mr Bush told Mr Singh he had huge doubts about Mr Zardari’s ability to deliver on assurances made to India on curbing-cross border terror.

Mr Bush shared his assessment with Mr Singh during the course of their bi-lateral meeting when the two discussed terrorism in South Asia.

The prime minister in turn is reported to have told Mr Bush that though the Indian government didn’t push Mr Zardari too hard India did convey to him its strong views on terror from Pakistan soil, the report said.

The channel added that “Mr Zardari went out of his way to tell the PM that India needed to give him some time as he was only a two week-old President.”

The joint statement at the end of talks between Mr Singh and Mr Zardari in New York on Wednesday re-committed Pakistan to honour its Jan 6, 2004, pledge not to allow terror attacks against India from its soil.

Indian officials said the joint statement was “a major step forward” from India’s point of view in which Mr Zardari was ready to comment in public on cross-border terrorism, another report said.

“Zardari himself has said he is only a 14-day president. Therefore, India was not anxious to put him on the dock on terrorism issues,” one of the sources was quoted as saying.

India and Pakistan will hold a special meeting of their joint-terror mechanism to address New Delhi’s suspicion about the alleged involvement of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the July 7 attack on the Indian mission in Kabul.