Police arrested Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the head of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, "for making inflammatory speeches to incite people to violate law and order," a top security official, requesting anonymity, told AFP.

India has blamed Lashkar and another Pakistan-based militant outfit -- Jaish-e-Mohammad -- of carrying out the December 13 attack on the parliament complex in New Delhi at the behest of Pakistani military intelligence.

Military tensions have soared since the raid, with both sides massing troops along their border and trading tit-for-tat diplomatic sanctions.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said Sunday the nuclear rivals should "move towards peace and harmony" rather than war but would respond vigorously to any attack.

"Let me use this forum to convey a message to the people of India: Pakistan stands for peace, Pakistan wants peace, Pakistan wants to reduce tension," he told reporters after holding a meeting of political parties.

"However, Pakistan has taken all counter measures. If any war is thrust on Pakistan, the Pakistan armed forces and the 140 million people of Pakistan are fully prepared to face all consequences with all their might.

"Any sane person would not opt for such a course as going to war. I hope it does not lead to that," he said. "We are hoping for the best, but we are prepared for the worst."

Analysts believe Saeed's arrest is a significant gesture of Pakistan's desire to defuse the dangerously high levels of brinkmanship between the two neighbours.

Lashkar is one of the most powerful militant groups seeking to expel Indian troops from the northern third of the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan.

The group has been blamed for other high-profile attacks, including an assault on New Delhi's historic Red Fort in December last year.

Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar earlier said tensions were rising by the hour as Pakistan learnt of the deployment of the bulk of India's forces from their peacetime position to locations close to the border.

Islamabad has denied any role in the December 13 attack but has arrested some 60 militants, including the founding head of the Jaish group, Maulana Masood Azhar, and has frozen the assets of Lashkar.

India, however, has dismissed the moves as "cosmetic".

US President George W. Bush on Saturday called on Pakistan to do more to "eliminate extremists" implicated in the attack, and urged Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to defuse their dispute.

Musharraf said he welcomed intervention by Washington and other members of the international community in trying to "play a useful and positive role in defusing the tension".

Vajpayee said he was confident that diplomatic pressure would resolve the standoff by forcing Pakistan to act decisively against the militants.

"I firmly believe this will put sufficient pressure on Pakistan and it will be forced to act against the terrorist groups," Vajpayee was quoted as saying by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan.

However, Musharraf warned the "tension that has mounted on our eastern border in fact is creating obstacles and hurdles".

"It is slowing down the process that I want to follow myself for Pakistan, because there are domestic sensitivities for which one has to very conscious about," he said.

Musharraf repeated his offer to meet Vajpayee.

"I am for dialogue and I keep on saying this and India keeps on rejecting which gives me a feeling that I am begging to India. If they accept it we do not reject it at all," he said.

On Friday he said he was willing to meet Vajpayee on the sidelines of the January 4-6 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Nepal. India though has ruled out any face-to-face talks.

Musharraf will fly to Nepal via China as a result of India's ban on the use of its airspace, an official told AFP.

Meanwhile, In the heavily militarized Kashmir region, Indian forces shelled parts of Pakistan-controlled zone Sunday but no casualties were reported.

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