BBC Leave has been cancelled for India troops

India has moved ballistic missiles and troops to its border with Pakistan as tensions continue to rise between the two countries following an attack by suspected militants on the Indian parliament.

Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes told the BBC that Pakistan had declared war on India and something had to be done.

However, analysts have told the BBC that military action is not a real option as India would be seen as the aggressor and lose international support over the issue.

Pakistan has arrested the leader of a Kashmiri militant for offences in Pakistan.

But India says the arrest of Maulana Masood Azhar, although a step in the right direction, does not go far enough.

It wants Pakistan to hand over Kashmiri militants it claims were behind the attack on the parliament building in Delhi on 13 December.

Mr Fernandes told the BBC: "When India is attacked in the way it was, frankly what Pakistan has done is wage war against India."

Links severed

Pakistan's military government spokesman Major-General Rashid Qureshi said: "We want to co-operate and if India provides a shred of evidence, we will take action."

Delhi-based defence analyst and former Indian army major Maroof Raja told the BBC that India would not risk losing international support.

But it could impose economic sanctions by abandoning a 30-year-old agreement which allows Pakistan access to water which passes through Indian territory.

"That is Pakistan's lifeline, so it would have a huge shock to Pakistan."

India, which has already severed diplomatic and transport links between the two countries, has ordered thousands of villagers to leave the disputed Kashmir region.

The two countries have been in dispute over Kashmir for more than 50 years.

They have waged two wars in 1947-8 and in 1965, but the stakes have been raised because both are now nuclear powers.

Mr Azhar was detained in Punjab province on charges of making provocative speeches and instigating trouble.

The authorities' move comes a day after Islamabad froze the accounts and assets of another militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba - also blamed by India for the attack on the parliament compound.

The Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, said Delhi did not want war, but war was being thrust upon it and the country would have to face it.

Religious fighters

Pakistan's military leader, President Pervez Musharraf, said the army was fully prepared for all challenges, but the country would have to proceed cautiously, because of its nuclear capability.

Maulana Masood Azhar: Arrested for offences in Pakistan India has also cancelled all military leave and moved thousands of soldiers and tanks into the border state of Rajasthan, according to reports from the region.

Pakistan has deployed anti-aircraft guns and transported troops from an eastern garrison town to its border with India, local sources told the Reuters news agency.

The Indian Army said its mortar fire had destroyed eight Pakistani bunkers in the Galahar sector, although Pakistan denied the claims.

The BBC's Adam Mynott says Kashmir continues to provide a fertile recruiting ground for militants, and what was originally a political separatist struggle is now attracting Pakistani and Afghan fighters motivated by religious convictions.

Until two years ago the arrested leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad was languishing in an Indian jail, accused of involvement in militant activities in Kashmir.

But Mr Azhar was allowed to return to Pakistan after an Indian airliner was hijacked by Kashmiri separatists in December 1999. They demanded his freedom in return for releasing the hostages.

-- Anonymous, December 26, 2001