The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistan's president promised on Saturday to rid the country of terrorism and his prime minister said the military would not take action first in any face-off with India.

Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors have deteriorated after India blamed Islamist militants based in Pakistan for the last month's attacks on Mumbai that killed 179 people.

In a sign of mounting tension, Pakistan has canceled army leave and shifted some troops from its western border with Afghanistan to the eastern border with India.

Pakistan has condemned the Mumbai attacks and has denied any state role, blaming "non-state actors."

President Asif Ali Zardari, speaking at ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the assassination of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said dialogue was the best way forward.

"Yes, we have none state actorstyes, they are forcing an agenda on us. But please don't fall victim because you will be the victim, we will be the victim, the region will be the victim," Zardari said.

The South Asian neighbors both tested nuclear weapons in 1998. They have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 and came to the brink of a fourth after gunmen attacked the Indian parliament in December 2001.

Although many analysts say war is unlikely, international unease is growing and the United States has urged both sides not to raise tension further. China and Iran have also tried to calm things down.

Earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said Pakistan did not want war but was ready for one, although it would not be the first to act in any face-off with India.

"Our armed forces aretfully prepared but at the same time I assure you, once again, that we will not act. We will only react," Gilani told Muslim diplomats in Islamabad.

The movement of Pakistani troops off the Afghan border is likely to cause alarm in the United States which does not want to see its ally distracted from the battle against al Qaeda and Taliban militants.