India steps up pressure

India has terminated the bus service from Pakistan

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has told his people to prepare for "every eventuality" as tension with neighbouring Pakistan continues to mount.

"Our objective is to put an end to Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism... We shall use all the means and resources at India's command to achieve this objective," Mr Vajpayee told a convention of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the ruling federal coalition.

Prime Minister Vajpayee: No meeting with Pakistani leader

But he said his government would try to prevent rapidly deteriorating relations with its neighbour turning into war.

Mr Vajpayee has called a meeting for Sunday of 11 political parties including the opposition in a bid to consolidate support for his government.

Earlier, India had ruled out a meeting between Mr Vajpayee and the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, at a forthcoming regional summit in Nepal.

Risk of war

As both sides build up their forces at the border, Pakistan said the use of nuclear weapons should be "inconceivable."

Nuclear weapons are awful weapons and any use of these weapons should be inconceivable

Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar

But Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar told journalists that Pakistan hoped "the deterrence value of these weapons will be kept in view by anyone who is engaged in adventurism".

He also warned that even a small action could set in chain a train of events that could result in war.

The two countries carried out nuclear tests in 1998 and have ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

India has ordered thousands to leave Kashmir border villages

President Musharraf has said he would be willing to meet Mr Vajpayee at the Nepal summit, although Foreign Minister Sattar made clear that Pakistan had not actually made a specific request for a meeting.

But India says the conditions are not right for talks with Pakistan.

"Until Pakistan is able to create a conducive climate by acting resolutely and meaningfully against terrorism, the outlook for such dialogue cannot be promising," a senior Foreign Ministry official told Reuters news agency.

Talks at a lower level, however, are not being completely ruled out.

TV black out

In a further sign of worsening relations, Pakistan is banning all Indian satellite and cable television channels.

Major General Shahzada Alam Malik, chairman of the state-owned Telecommunication Authority, said the action had been taken because of "their poisonous propaganda against Pakistan".

India said it had no immediate plans to block Pakistan TV.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said the situation would be discussed at a meeting on Sunday.

The military build-up is the neighbours' biggest for almost 15 years.

The Taj Mahal is to be camouflaged, officials say

In the northern Indian city of Agra, officials said they were planning to camouflage the Taj Mahal, the famous 17th century marble monument to love, in case of Pakistani air attack.

A tourism official told Associated Press that tailors were stitching together more than 400 metres of cloth to cover the mausoleum's dome and its minarets.

Clashes

Tensions between the nuclear rivals have been mounting since a suicide attack on the Indian parliament two weeks ago, which Delhi alleges was backed by the Pakistani intelligence service.

On Friday, two Indian civilians were killed and five wounded when Pakistani troops opened fire on the border in Kashmir, an Indian defence official said.

If confirmed, they would be the latest civilian casualties in border clashes which have occurred daily over the past two weeks.

At least 18 Indian soldiers were killed as they laid landmines on the border in the desert state of Rajasthan on Friday.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947, two of them over Kashmir, and came close to a fourth in 1999.