With the two sides massing troops along their border, Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said 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 told a press briefing.

Echoing comments made by President Pervez Musharraf late Friday on Islamabad's desire for peace, Sattar said: "Pakistan does not seek any war, local or general, conventional or nuclear."

Sattar said Pakistan could not ignore the "mounting threat of war" and that the armed forces had taken all "necessary precautions". But he stressed the use of nuclear weapons was "inconvceivable".

Tensions with India have soared since the December 13 attack on the Indian parliament which New Delhi accuses Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence of masterminding.

India has demanded that Islamabad act decisively against two Pakistan-based militant groups -- Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad -- blamed for carrying out the raid on parliament.

Pakistan has denied hand in the attack, but detained Jaish leader Maulana Mazood Azhar and frozen Lashkar's assets. India has rejected the moves as "cosmetic".

Sattar said Pakistan was deeply concerned over fresh sanctions announced by India in the past week, including a ban on overflights by Pakistani airlines and a downgrading of diplomatic representation.

However, "more disturbing and dangerous" is the Indian military border presence mounted over the past 10 days and its "threatening rhetoric", he said.

"The massive Indian buildup gravely threatens peace in our region," he said of the deployments of troops and military hardware by the two countries who have fought three wars since independence in 1947.

As both nations moved towards a war footing, Pakistan Saturday ordered cable-TV operators to stop relaying Indian satellite channels, in an attempt to screen out "biased" Indian-produced news coverage of the conflict.

Meanwhile, one civilian was killed and three others injured in heavy Indian shelling across the tense Line of Control which divides disputed Kashmir, according to local police officials.

Sattar acknowledged calls from governments and groupings, including the United States, the G8 group of leading industrial nations and the European Union, for restraint and dialogue.

"We appreciate their concern and they know that Pakistan wants de-escalation and recourse to diplomacy and dialogue," he said.

US President George W. Bush said Friday his Secretary of State Colin Powell had spoken to the two nations to try to reduce tensions.

Bush also praised Musharraf for "the arrest of 50 extremists or terrorists" and said he hoped India would acknowledge the move.

In an apparent effort to tone down the sabre-rattling, Musharraf said Friday he would be willing to meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at a South Asian summit in Nepal next week.

India earlier this month ruled out any face-to-face talks.

"I don't mind meeting him (Vajpayee). But as I said once before, you can't clap with one hand. And if there is a willingness from the other side, then there is a willingness from my side," Musharraf said.

Sattar also confirmed Pakistan was "ready for dialogue at any level, any time, anywhere" but this depended "on the mutual desire of parties to hold talks".

The January 4-6 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation conference had been considered a valuable opportunity for the two leaders to meet, particularly after July's failed summit in the Indian city of Agra.

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File Photo: Where any ground zero in India will have begun life - the Khushab plutonium production reactor in Pakistan - AFP Library photo - Copyright Space Imaging

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