Islamabad: Pakistan yesterday (Jan 10) said that Kashmir continues to be central in the forthcoming talks with India.

"There is no question of sidelining Kashmir issue during the talks, neither its centrality has been overlooked nor it has been put on the backburner," said Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

"No way, no question about it," Rashid told reporters in response to a question on whether the Kashmir issue was not being given due importance in recent developments in Pakistan-India relations.

He said in the backdrop of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) Summit the dialogue process will start and this will be for the first time that a composite dialogue will take place on the Kashmir issue.

To a question, Rashid said UN resolutions on Kashmir continue to exist but when both sides are going for a resolution of the issue, they have to look how the resolution is reached.

"However," he said, "it's only sincerity of both the sides that can provide basis for a fruitful dialogue."

He said whatever the issues are on the agenda for dialogue, one thing is certain that "all roads lead towards the issue of Kashmir, whether these are confidence-building measures (CBMs) or any other step".

Rejecting the impression that there was some pressure to reach solution of the issue, he said, "There is no pressure at all. Neither we accepted any pressure in the past nor we will do so in future."

However, he said, "as far as facilitation or the role of any friend is concerned, we appreciate that".

Referring a recent meeting of President Pervez Musharraf with the Kashmiri leadership from Azad Kashmir, he said the President took them into confidence and had said that he will again take into confidence the Kashmiri leadership.

To another question, Rashid said that all the outstanding issues between both the countries would be taken for deliberations and for this purpose a number of committees at different levels would be constituted.

The Minister reiterated the stance of Pakistan on war against terrorism saying that it will not allow anybody to use its territory for terrorist activities.