US urges restraint in South Asia

India has terminated the bus service from Pakistan

US President George W Bush has appealed to the leaders of India and Pakistan to calm tensions as both nations mass troops on their border.

Mr Bush also urged the Pakistan leader, General Pervez Musharraf, to take "strong, decisive measures" against what he called "extremists" blamed for attacks against India.

Mr Bush made separate telephone calls to both leaders after India and Pakistan turned down the chance of talks, instead pressing on with the military build-up.

"The president... urged both leaders to work to reduce tensions in the region," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Attack on parliament

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

India has ordered thousands to leave Kashmir border villages

In the call to Mr Musharraf, the US president urged Islamabad to "eliminate the extremists who seek to harm India, undermine Pakistan, provoke a war between India and Pakistan and destabilise the international coalition against terrorism".

Mr Bush told the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, that the United States "is determined to co-operate with India in the fight against terrorism."

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

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".

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

Nuclear powers

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

Prime Minister Vajpayee: No meeting with Pakistani leader

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

India has ruled out a meeting between Mr Vajpayee and Mr 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".

"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

As shelling continued in 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.

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.

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.