INDIA - PAKISTAN CLOSER............

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday allayed apprehensions about a slowdown in its composite dialogue process with India by saying bilateral relations were at their best in 60 years despite slow progress in talks on "core issues" like the Kashmir dispute.

"The relations were never so good in the past 60 years and the composite dialogue process is moving in a positive direction," Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told a weekly news briefing here.

Sadiq compared the tense military stand-off between India and Pakistan following the terror attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001 to the current status of ties to highlight the improvement in relations.

"In 2002, we had one billion troops on the border in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation and you have to compare that with today. The tensions have lessened," he said.

"Diplomacy moves at a slow pace, sometimes at a glacial pace and we should not expect results overnight," he said, adding complex issues were involved in the dialogue process.

Islamabad did not expect the internal domestic situation in both countries to affect the dialogue, Sadiq said, adding there was "no instability" in Pakistan.

"We are in an election year and things are very active politically," he remarked.

"The dialogue has been slow, especially on the core issue of Kashmir and we would like it to speed up," Sadiq said.

The spokesman's comments came as the India-Pakistan Anti-Terror Mechanism held its second meeting in New Delhi on Monday to discuss ways to step up cooperation in the fight against terrorism.