Pakistan said today it wanted to defuse the brewing crisis with India and announced it had arrested the head of a militant group blamed for staging an attack on India's parliament.
Police arrested Mr Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the head of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, "for making inflammatory speeches to incite people to violate law and order," a top security official, requesting anonymity, said.
India has blamed Lashkar and another Pakistan-based militant outfit - Jaish-eMohammad - of carrying out the December 13 attack on the parliament complex in New Delhi at the behest of Pakistani military intelligence.
Military tensions have soared since the raid, with both sides massing troops along their border and trading tit-for-tat diplomatic sanctions.
Pakistan President Mr Pervez Musharraf said today the nuclear rivals should "move towards peace and harmony" rather than war but would respond vigorously to any attack.
"Let me use this forum to convey a message to the people of India: Pakistan stands for peace, Pakistan wants peace," he said after a meeting with political parties.
But Mr Musharraf said Pakistan had taken all "counter measures" and if war was started, Pakistani armed forced would respond. "We are hoping for the best, but we are prepared for the worst," he said.
Analysts believe Mr Saeed's arrest is a significant gesture of Pakistan's desire to defuse the dangerously high levels of brinkmanship between the two neighbours.
Foreign Minister Mr Abdul Sattar earlier said tensions were rising by the hour as Pakistan learnt of the deployment of the bulk of India's forces from their peacetime position to locations close to the border.
Islamabad has denied any role in the December 13th attack but has arrested some 60 militants, including the founding head of the Jaish group, Maulana Masood Azhar and has frozen the assets of Lashkar.
India has dismissed the moves as "cosmetic".
In separate telephone calls US President Mr George W. Bush yesterday urged Mr Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee to defuse their dispute.
Mr Musharraf repeated today his offer to meet Mr Vajpayee on the sidelines of the January 4-6 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Nepal. India though has ruled out any face-to-face talks.
Meanwhile, in the heavily militarised Kashmir region, Indian forces shelled parts of Pakistan-controlled zone today but no casualties were reported.
AFP