Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, anxious to create national consensus, has invited politicians from various parties to a meeting in Islamabad tomorrow to inform them about the rapidly deteriorating situation on the borders and to seek their help in mobilising the nation behind him.

He took this decision after security was tightened further in border areas and civil defence was put on a high alert in cities for emergencies.

The government believes that the nation should be asked to prepare itself for any eventuality although insiders reported that intelligence reports continue to be sceptical about a full-scale war between India and Pakistan.

There are very cogent reasons for it. The intelligence agencies believe that the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself was not in favour of a military conflict, and secondly the Pakistan government's decision to initiate administrative action against militant organisations like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, will help strengthen the hands of the Indian premier against known hawks like Home Minister L. K. Advani, and thirdly the Pakistani president himself looks very relaxed and comfortable which is evident from his five-day stay in China and another two days stay in Karachi.

His attitude shows that the government was taking things easy. Yet another argument, being advanced by these sources is the worrisome internal security situation in India and Pakistan's potential for conventional and nuclear response which have watered down the sentiments in a section of Indian security apparatus that was initially advocating limited military strikes against Pakistan.

"By moving the ground, air, naval and strategic assets we made sure that New Delhi receives our message loud and clear," a ranking military official said. "We want India and the whole world to know the exact cost of such a military conflict in the region."

The News newspaper reported that Pakistan has assured the international community of its resolve to fight religious militancy at home.

"It is a good sign that Prime Minister Vajpayee and the Indian services chiefs are counting the pitfalls of war in their closed-door meetings," said a senior Pakistani military official. "We have fairly credible information that the Indian prime minister has ruled out a war with Pakistan."

Officials said that it was inconceivable for them to expect the Indian army starting a full-scale war with Pakistan when one-third of its one million strong land forces are battling two full-scale insurgencies in Kashmir and in seven states of north-eastern India.

"The Assamese, Mizos, Nagas and Kashmiris would love to see the Indian army withdrawing some of its resources and men from their land," said a military security official.

Pakistani military analysts say that international fears that any outbreak of military hostilities between India and Pakistan would cause a nuclear conflict were as, one official puts it, a "little misplaced" as both countries have enough capacity to sustain a conventional war, at least for the first few days.

"There was a lot of speculation, but the Pakistan army never embraced the idea of a pre-emptive nuclear strike against India," said Lt. Gen. (retd.) Salahuddin Tirmizi, former commander of Pakistan's second strike corps at Multan.

Tirmizi also agreed with Pakistani officials that by making their military manoeuvres public, the Indian government was openly compromising the secrets of war planning that suggest that "Indian war posturing may not be very serious".