While the threat of a nuclear conflict between the superpowers during the Cold War seemed too horrific to be realised, the edgy stand-off between the South Asian arch-rivals has set alarm bells ringing in western capitals.

The presidents of the United States and Russia, having signed an agreement to slash their own nuclear arsenals, urged restraint at the weekend when Pakistan test-fired nuclear-capable missiles amidst bellicose exchanges with India.

Russian President Valdimir Putin said he was "very concerned that this conflict will escalate," while US leader George W. Bush said: "We are deeply concerned about the rhetoric."

France's Jacques Chirac told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in a telephone conversation that the spiralling tension "could lead to disaster".

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said: "Every time you have two armies that close and that level of tension, there is the likelihood of an outbreak of hostilities. And when both are nuclear armed, that should cause us all concern."

Their fears would not have been calmed by Musharraf's own assessment of the situation with Pakistan's giant neighbour as "extremely explosive".

The concern is that if Pakistan has its back to the wall, with its population of 140 million outnumbered and outgunned by India's one billion people, it could use nuclear weapons as a last resort.

Former Pakistani airforce commander Ayaz Ahmed told AFP: "Indian people should know that if Pakistan is faced with a defeat on the ground then Pakistan will use the nuclear option, because it is better to die then to live under Indian slavery."

A survey by the British magazine New Scientist put the potential conflict into perspective -- at least three million people would be killed and another 1.4 million seriously injured if even a "limited" nuclear war broke out.

Pakistan's first test of a nuclear weapon in 1998 rocked the western world, which saw it as evidence of a new and dangerous element in the balance of terror -- a "Muslim bomb".

Again, these fears will have been exacerbated by Musharraf himself, who told an Islamic conference after Saturday's missile test: "We should be proud of this achievement. Allah-o-Akbar, Allah-o-Akbar, Allah-o-Akbar (God is great, God is great, God is great)."

Islam is central to the tension between Pakistan and India, based as it is on the dispute over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which came under Indian rule after the partition of the sub-continent at the end of British rule in 1947.

The spark for the latest sharp deterioration in relations was a massacre of 35 people on May 14 blamed by New Delhi on Pakistan-based insurgents.

Ties had already been strained by an attack by militants on the Indian parliament in December.

But there is a vital new element in the equation -- Pakistan is a key ally of the west in the US-led war on terrorism, which is focused at the moment on neighbouring Afghanistan.

Pakistan is believed to have already withdrawn some of its troops from its western border with Afghanistan and deployed them on the eastern frontier with India.

Retired General Hameed Gul, former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, said Pakistan was being chastised instead of being rewarded for joining the west's war against terrorism.

"We are still being put into a corner. If we are to surrender to India on US pressure then what have we got from Washington?"

Bush Saturday pressured Pakistan to honour its promise to crack down on Islamic militants blamed for cross-border attacks in Kashmir.

But Pakistan is under intense internal pressure not to abandon its "moral and diplomatic" support for what it calls a struggle by Kashmiri Muslims to free themselves from Indian rule.

Meanwhile diplomatic efforts to defuse the potentially disastrous situation are being stepped up: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is due in the region this week and will be followed by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

All rights reserved. � 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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