HIGHLIGHTS: Indian Merchant Navy now Under Navy Flag||Ground to Air Missiles Moved to Protect Installations||Though Willing to Make Concessions to India, Pakistan Will Respond With Full Force if Attacked||STORY: Missile-carrying Indian naval warships steamed into the Arabian Sea, closer to Pakistan, as military tensions between the two South Asian nuclear neighbours soared. Highly-placed naval sources told AFP that four of the vessels are armed with missiles but the spokesman declined to elaborate on the redeployment, which comes in the middle of heightening military tensions between India and Pakistan. (Read photo caption)

The Indian Navy has already brought the country's merchant navy under its flag and kept its only aircraft carrier on a state of alert in the Bay of Bengal.

The Indian Air Force, the world's fourth largest, also went on alert as India's mobilization gained momentum on Wednesday.
The Press Trust of India said the air force was also moving its "strategic assets" including ground-to-air-missiles to protect vital installations but there was no independent confirmation of the dispatch.

The twin moves come amid signs India and Pakistan are moving to the brink of war, with an already bitter standoff being intensified Wednesday by a statement by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that the time had come for a "decisive fight."

Tensions between the two South Asian states, which have fought three wars since independence in 1947, were sent soaring on December 13 when Islamic militants New Delhi claims were sponsored by Islamabad attacked the Indian parliament, leaving 14 people dead.

Since then, India and Pakistan have together deployed nearly one million troops along their shared border.

ISLAMABAD WOULD RESPOND WITH 'FULL FORCE'

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said India should desist from "blatant war-mongering" and instead focus on peacefully resolving the Kashmir problem.

"Pakistan has the ability to defend itself against any war imposed by India. Any misadventure by India will be met with full force," it said.

However, and in a sign showing Islamabad was willing to make concessions to India, a statement issued after Wednesday's Pakistani cabinet meeting chaired by President Pervez Musharraf said "no organization in Pakistan will be allowed to indulge in terrorism in the name of Kashmir".

WORLD PRESSURE

Despite a chorus of international calls to calm tensions, the two armies traded fire again Wednesday in the disputed and mainly Muslim territory of Kashmir

At least 10 people have been reported killed, including civilians, in the past two days. Each side blames the other for starting the firing.

The nuclear rivals have massed up to a million troops on their border since India blamed Pakistan-based Kashmiri militants for a raid on its parliament in December.

Tensions mounted last week after the raid on the army camp in which more than 30 people died. Many of the victims were wives and children of soldiers on the front line.

Highlighting the risk from radicals in Pakistan, Britain said it was withdrawing a large number of diplomats and warning its nationals to leave after threats against its interests.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw plans to visit the region next week, and a senior US State Department envoy, Richard Armitage, is also due there soon in an effort to calm tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

PHOTO CAPTION

Indian army soldiers work atop an amphibious tank during joint exercises between Indian navy and army at Chowpattty beach in Bombay, April 24, 2002. The three-day joint exercises come in the wake of the build-up of Indian troops on the India-Pakistan border. REUTERS/Arko Datta
- Apr 24 9:36 AM ET