PAKISTAN has redeployed thousands of troops to the Indian border, officials said on Friday, in an escalation of tensions with New Delhi after the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
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Washington urged the two sides to avoid conflict and said it was in touch with both countries.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh summoned his military chiefs to review New Delhi's "defence preparedness", while his foreign ministry advised Indians not to travel to Pakistan.
The developments sent ties plummeting to their lowest point since late 2001, when Kashmiri militants staged a brazen attack on the Indian Parliament - an attack New Delhi blamed on the Pakistani extremist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba.
India has blamed the same group for the Mumbai attacks and has repeatedly said Islamabad is not doing enough to rein in militant groups - a claim Pakistan rejects.
The nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours - which have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 - have said they do not want war this time but warn they would act if provoked.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reiterated on Friday that Pakistan was a "peace-loving" nation, telling reporters in the eastern city of Lahore that while Islamabad had no "aggressive designs", it would respond if provoked, the Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported.
In Islamabad, defence and security officials said troops were being moved from the north-west areas bordering Afghanistan, hotbeds of Taliban and al-Qaeda activity, to the eastern border near India.
