ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have decided to work together and set aside differences after a meeting upon the former’s return to Islamabad from Kabul on Thursday. They also agreed to appoint a new national security adviser with mutual consent.

The tension, which surfaced between the president and the prime minister after the dismissal of National Security Adviser Lt-Gen (retd) Mehmud Ali Durrani, was reportedly defused after Prime Minister Gilani met President Zardari on Thursday and won his approval about the adviser’s sacking.

He is reported to have convinced the president that the move was “in the best interest of the country and for (the sake of) good governance,” sources said on Friday

“It was in fact a storm in a tea cup,” the sources said, hinting that the nature of differences was not serious.

They said President Zardari criticised the prime minister’s decision because the adviser had been removed during his absence from the country and he had not been informed on the sensitive issue.

Following the adviser’s dismissal, a notification was issued by the Prime Minister’s House, saying that Mr Durrani had been sacked for “irresponsible behaviour”, not taking the prime minister and other stakeholders into confidence, and for lack of coordination on matters on national security.

Meanwhile, sources close to Mr Durrani said the adviser claimed that whatever he had told the media about Ajmal Kasab was “based on facts”.

The government noted with concern that tension with India had heightened once again after Mr Durrani’s statement.

The government is reviewing how to rebuild its case on the diplomatic front to prove that non-state actors, and not any state agency, were involved in the Mumbai attacks, the sources said.

In order to chalk out a line of action, government bigwigs held a marathon meeting in the Foreign Office on Thursday. The meeting was also attended by senior officials of an intelligence agency.