The meeting between Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri and his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom in Istanbul on Thursday was the first publicly acknowledged high-level contact Pakistan has held with the Jewish state.

"There is no harm in having talks," Aziz told the lower house of the National Assembly, where opposition Islamist legislators walked out in token protest.

"If we have met somebody this does not mean we agree with them. We may be able to change their stand.

A staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, Pakistan has stressed that it will not recognise Israel until a Palestinian state is established.

The government's decision to open talks was prompted by Israel's withdrawal of settlers and military from Gaza.

Foreign Minister Kasuri, talking to reporters in Dubai during a stopover before returning home, said the move would give Pakistan "diplomatic space."

"Frankly (secret) contacts have been going on for decades, but we wanted to send a signal to the Israeli government and people that the assumption that Islamic countries cannot live in peace with the Jewish state is not correct, if Israel were to vacate occupied territory," Kasuri said.

But President Pervez Musharraf's policy shift sparked outbursts in mosques.

"General Musharraf is an agent of Jews. His agenda is to sell Pakistan and Pakistani Muslims to Jews and the Jews' ally," the cleric told his congregation at Islamabad's Red Mosque.