Pakistan Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat has ruled out Islamabad signing an extradition treaty with India in the near future.

Saleh, who last week said in an interview to a local daily that Pakistan will shortly invite Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani to discuss among other things a "structured dialogue" to work out an extradition treaty between the two countries, told reporters on Tuesday that no such treaty was on the cards.

"Such decisions are not taken in a matter of few days," he said without making any reference to his own interview to The News on January 8.

Hayat's interview had created a sensation in the Pakistan Foreign Office.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan on Monday denied there were any plans by the Pakistan government to invite Advani.

Hayat, a former Benazir Bhutto loyalist, said Pakistan has extradition treaties with other countries, but there was
no immediate chance of working out one with India.

He said the recent India-Pakistan peace process is just a beginning. "We have to move step by step for improvement of
relations and restoration of trust," he said.