"Tension is at its height. The danger of war is not yet over," he said in a toughly worded address to the nation, delivered as one million troops massed on the border between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

But in "a message to the world community", he said Pakistan did not want a war. "Pakistan will not be the one to initiate war. We want peace in the region," he said.

Musharraf backed the "freedom struggle" in disputed Kashmir state, but vowed Pakistan would not allow terrorism to be launched from its soil, and said no infiltration of militants was taking place into Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"I also want to tell the world and give the assurance that no infiltration is taking place across the Line of Control (the de facto border between Pakistani- and Indian-controlled Kashmir)," he said.

The bellicose tone of the address angered India which disputed Musharraf's claim on infiltration, an issue that has fuelled the row over Kashmir which is divided between the two countries and claimed by both.

Indian junior foreign minister Omar Abdullah made it clear that hopes the speech could drag the rivals back from the brink had been dashed.

"I think it is obviously going to make us very angry," Omar said in a television interview. "Infiltration has stopped? How can that be convincing?"

Share prices on Pakistan's battered stock exchange had surged 3.2 percent Monday amid hopes Musharraf would announce new measures to combat cross-border terrorism, in a bid to appease India and avert war.

But the president did not announce any new measures, instead blaming India for the escalation of tensions and saying it had reacted badly by fingering Pakistan for attacks including the deadly December assault on its parliament.

"The Indian leadership acted in a hasty manner and adopted extremely irresponsible behaviour... they put the blame on us and consequently brought their forces on the border," he said.

"All these allegations with aggressive overtones shows highly irresponsible behaviour on the part of the Indian leadership. This increases the heat of war and creates war hysteria."

Analysts said the fiery speech was squarely aimed at the domestic audience, who in October will vote in elections aimed at restoring Pakistan to democracy.

"General Musharraf was blowing tough while seeking conciliation with India," said writer and political analyst Imtiaz Alam. "He tried to shift pressure from Pakistan to India by talking about atrocities and tyranny in Kashmir."

But Alam said Musharraf was not abandoning an olive branch extended last week when an official statement said Pakistan would not allow territory under its control -- Pakistani Kashmir -- to be used for terrorist activity.

"He very slightly hinted at this to ally concerns of the international community, but did not specify what measures his administration was taking perhaps fearing a backlash from the domestic audience."

Pakistan is under intense political pressure to curb Islamic militants as the United States is anxious to avoid any conflict which could weaken the international coalition against terrorism.

After Pakistan test-fired two nuclear-capable missiles over the weekend, US President George W. Bush led expressions of concern but said he was more anxious "that Musharraf show results" in the global fight against terrorism.

"He must perform," Bush said of Musharraf's efforts to halt incursions into Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Safonov arrived here Monday as the international diplomatic push to avert a conflict between the South Asian rivals went into high gear.

Safonov will discuss Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to arrange face-to-face talks between the Pakistani and Indian leaders on the sidelines of a June 3-5 conference in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Musharraf Speech Going To Make India Angry: Junior Minister New Delhi (AFP) May 27, 2002 India reacted angrily Monday to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's address to his nation, disputing his contention there is no infiltration across the two countries' de facto border in Kashmir.

While New Delhi's official response will only be delivered on Tuesday, junior foreign minister Omar Abdullah made it clear the government was not happy with Musharraf's speech.

"I think it is obviously going to make us very angry," Omar said in an interview with Star television. "The stuff about Hindu terrorists operating in Kashmir. I have yet to hear about a Hindu terrorist operating in Kashmir. I live in Kashmir ... so obviously a lot of his speech has had an effect of angering us more than anything else."

He said he had had no prior expectations about the speech, and did not find it convincing.

"Infiltration has stopped? How can that be convincing?" he asked.

"I am willing to assume for a moment that India ... that we are all a bunch of liars, that infiltration is not going on, we are only creating a hue and cry.

"But what about Washington, Moscow, Paris, Berlin? All of them have come out very categorically on Musharraf that infiltration across the Line of Control (the de facto border in Kashmir) must stop.

"It's obviously something more than what India has said, so I don't think we can take his statement at face value that there is no infiltration. There is!"

Foreign affairs spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said earlier that the Indian government would react fully at a press conference on Tuesday.

She added that India did not want to give a "knee-jerk" reaction.

"We have to assess General Musharraf's statements in their totality. What has been stated today has to be seen in the context of the January 12 statement and also his recent interviews," Rao added.

"There is a certain genre of expression, thought and ideas; that is why (we) need to connect it with his previous interviews, press statements and then formulate our response."

But on Musharraf's claims of having stopped cross-border infiltration, she said: "What you see is not what you get. That has been the case with Pakistan."

On January 12, Musharraf pledged to halt cross-border militancy from Pakistani soil, a pledge he repeated earlier this month.

Analysts said Musharraf had failed to make reference to the main question India wants addressed -- whether he is prepared to dismantle camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir where Islamic militants receive training before launching cross-border raids.

Musharraf's expression of regret that India had not given any positive response despite Pakistan taking "very bold steps and initiatives" since his January 12 address was also likely to annoy New Delhi, an analyst said.

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