Pakistan sees mounting war risk

India has terminated the bus service from Pakistan

Pakistan has warned that any small act of provocation could escalate into an all-out war with India.

Both governments have turned down the chance of talks while pressing on with a military build-up on their border.

The Pakistani Foreign Minister, Abdul Sattar, accused Delhi of preparing for war, as the Indian Government vowed to use all the means at its disposal to wipe out "cross-border terrorism".

Tensions between the two nuclear powers have escalated since the 13 December attack on the Indian parliament, which Delhi blamed on what it described as Pakistan-sponsored terrorists.

The military build-up is the neighbours' biggest for almost 15 years, and correspondents say they are closer to war now than they have been for 30 years.

Nuclear powers

The two countries have ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

India has ordered thousands to leave Kashmir border villages

But Mr Sattar stressed that use of such weapons should be "inconceivable".

He warned that any "small action would trigger a chain of action and reaction, leading to a conflict that neither side desires".

"Shrill, threatening and warlike statements generate a momentum of their own which is extremely dangerous for peace between the two countries," he said.

India has ruled out a meeting between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, at a forthcoming regional summit in Nepal.

Pakistan later denied that it had ever requested such a meeting.

India closes ranks

Mr Vajpayee has told his people to prepare for "every eventuality".

Prime Minister Vajpayee: No meeting with Pakistani leader

"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," he said.

But he said his government would try to prevent 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.

The BBC's Jill McGivering in Delhi says there is a growing mood of frustration and anger in India over Pakistan's recent diplomatic gains.

India has seen Pakistan drawn back into the international fold, hailed as an ally in the war on terrorism.

Kashmir militants

India has demanded that Pakistan act decisively against two Kashmiri separatist groups it blames for the raid on parliament - Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The Taj Mahal is to be camouflaged, officials say

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

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

As shelling continued in disputed Kashmir, it emerged that 19 Indian soldiers were killed accidentally 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.

The authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir have been transferring separatist militant prisoners to a high security jail in Rajasthan, in response to the growing tension.

TV blackout

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.

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.