Saturday, August 20 2005 17:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan has said though the pace of the Indo-Pak peace process was 'slow', it has made progress with the two countries periodically meeting to discuss Kashmir and other contentious issues.

Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri also said that his country was committed to the ongoing composite dialogue process with India.

"Although the pace of the peace process was slow, yet progress was being made," he told a local TV channel and added several meetings had taken place between Pakistan and India onvarious issues, including Jammu and Kashmir.

Kasuri said resolution of Kashmir issue was important for durable peace between the two countries.

The Pakistan Foreign Minister also denied that the country was making 'half-hearted' efforts to check terrorist activities as claimed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his Independence Day speech.

Asked about the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), he said "There is no problem regarding the implementation of SAFTA on Pakistan's part. However, certain details need to be worked out," he said, hoping these issues would be resolved in the forthcoming meeting of the SAARC Commerce Ministers in October this year.

Asked whether the SAARC summit would be held in Dhaka in the wake of the recent bomb attacks in Bangladesh, Kasuri expressed confidence that the Bangladeshi Government would host the summit by providing adequate security.