ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Pakistan said on Monday that the ongoing composite dialogue with India had made progress in the realm of confidence-building measures , but the two sides had not yet been able to make any headway on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and matters of peace and security.

Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said this when asked at his weekly press briefing what concrete results had been achieved in the composite dialogue that had remained under way for most part of the last year. The composite dialogue itself, he pointed out, was 'a big confidence-building measure.'

However, he stressed, efforts were being made to achieve results in the areas of Jammu and Kashmir and peace and security. About Pakistan's position on the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, the spokesman said Islamabad regarded the project acceptable on the cost-benefit basis, in the interest of national economy and the region.

He denied that Pakistan was under any pressure from the United States to support the tri-nation project. He, however, said that considerable work remained to be done, which needed time and consultation, before a final decision could be taken on the issue.

In reply to a question, he said the current Baglihar talks in New Delhi were 'a last ditch effort' to settle the issue bilaterally and added that Islamabad's objections must be met as the Baglihar dam, if built in accordance with the present design, would grossly hurt Pakistan's irrigation areas by curtailing its due share in the upstream river water flowing into the country from Kashmir.

He said the new construction on the Baglihar dam was a violation of the Indus Waters Treaty which otherwise had worked well for about 30 years. He declined to respond to a question whether Pakistan had responded to a set of points outlined recently by India on the Baglihar issue. He said it was improper for him to say anything while the Baglihar talks were to be held in New Delhi.

Mr Masood Khan said that Pakistan would not send its troops to Iraq and added that deployment of troops could not be contemplated until the conditions stipulated by Islamabad in this regard and conveyed to the United Nations were met.

Pakistan supported the UN roadmap for Iraq's return to self-rule, but actual presence of its troops could be considered only when its conditions were met, he emphasized.

He said that Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States, was in Islamabad on a private visit but added that he might hold consultations with President General Pervez Musharraf and government officials in his capacity as the UN secretary-general's envoy for Iraq.

APP ADDS: Answering a question about Pakistani prisoners in Afghanistan, Mr Masood Khan said these prisoners were in the custody of warlords and the government was trying to get more information about them. He said new dates for the Saarc summit were being worked out.