GAZA CITY: Israeli troops tightened their military grip on Gaza with new air and ground attacks that claimed more than 20 more lives on Monday, while the Israeli government rejected European-led calls for an immediate ceasefire.

As thousands of ground troops intensified Israel’s move into the enclave and warplanes carried out dozens of new raids, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni rejected EU calls for an immediate ceasefire.

“We are fighting with terror and we are not reaching an agreement with terror,” Livni declared after talks with an EU ministerial delegation led by Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg.

Israel acted to change a situation where “Hamas targets Israel whenever it likes and Israel shows restraint,” she said. “This is no longer going to be the equation in this region. When Israel is being targeted, Israel is going to retaliate.”

Schwarzenberg said he repeated an EU call for an end to both Israel’s offensive in Gaza and Hamas rocket attacks.

“We are not sharing the view that a ceasefire is only possible if all… aims of the Israeli actions are achieved,” he said. “We do think that the ceasefire should be as early as possible.”

The EU delegation held talks in Jerusalem just ahead of the arrival of French President Nicolas Sarkozy who unsuccessfully proposed a two-day truce before the land invasion began. SAkozy was due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Sarkozy has condemned Israel’s use of ground troops, reflecting general world opinion. Sarkozy and other diplomats making their way to the region are expected to press hard for a cease-fire.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also called for an immediate ceasefire after telephone talks with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas, the Kremlin said.

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice cancelled a trip to China because of the Gaza crisis.

Israeli troops battled Hamas fighters in the north and east of the territory as they surrounded Gaza City on land and sea.

Fighter jets carried out more than 30 air strikes. The military said they hit a mosque “where arms were being stored, as well as houses containing arms caches and vehicles that were transporting rocket launchers and armed men.”

Naval ships off the coast also bombarded targets to help the ground offensive launched on Saturday night.

The Israeli strikes killed more than 20 Palestinians on Monday, including five children, medics said.

Three children were killed by a tank shell in Zeitun in the Gaza City suburbs and two were killed in Shati by a naval strike, emergency services said.

At least 537 Palestinians — including more than 90 children — have been killed since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27. More than 2,500 have been wounded.

Israel says dozens of Hamas fighters have been killed while one Israeli soldier has been reported dead and 55 wounded since Saturday.

Israel’s peace partners in the Arab world were also heavily critical of the civilian death toll.

“Gaza’s children, the dead and the barely living, their mothers, their fathers are not acceptable collateral damage, their lives do matter and their loss does count,” said Queen Rania of Jordan as she launched an appeal for emergency humanitarian aid.

Israel faces intense international pressure to agree a ceasefire and ease the suffering of the 1.5 million Gaza population which has no power or water supplies and endures a daily struggle to get food, according to aid agencies.

Israel agreed to let food and fuel into Gaza but scores of trucks were stuck at the border as the military said no one turned up to receive the supplies.

Aid agencies said they were scrambling to organise a convoy on the Palestinian side where many people fear to venture out during the Israeli raids.

The Israeli offensive has sparked spiralling anger in the Muslim world and protests across the globe.

Mauritania, one of only three Arab countries to have full diplomatic ties with Israel, withdrew its ambassador in protest.

Addressing the media here, Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said that now that India had provided evidence, Pakistan should extend all its assistance to bring the perpetrators to Indian justice.

“India has asked Pakistan to investigate the evidence material given to it on the Mumbai attacks and extend legal assistance so that the perpetrators could be brought to justice,” Menon said.

He claimed that Pakistan was bound to handover the culprits to India as per SAARC charter.

Menon pointed out that the investigation and the evidence it produced has led India to believe that the kind of operation undertaken in Mumbai couldn’t have been planned without someone being in the know.

“Conspiracy behind the crime (in Mumbai) was hatched in Pakistan and hence India has requested Pakistan to fulfil its commitments,” Menon claimed.

He also revealed that India was actively lobbying with all friendly countries around the world so that concrete action is taken against terrorists in Pakistan.

“We have begun the process of briefing foreign countries. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee has written to his counterparts around the world about the evidence. We have today held special briefings for the ambassadors of those countries whose nationals were killed in Mumbai,” he said.

During the two-hour-long meeting, Menon apprised He Yafei about the evidence showing that 10 heavily-armed terrorists were sent from Karachi to Mumbai to carry out attacks and that the three-day-long operation was guided from Pakistan.

India has compiled a dossier of evidence which includes confession of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the attack, satellite phone intercepts and record of logbooks recovered from a ship by which ten heavily armed terrorists came from Karachi to Mumbai on November 26.

Menon is understood to have urged the Chinese minister that his country should use its influence with Pakistan to ensure that the perpetrators of the attacks are brought to justice and that such strikes do not take place in the future.

He Yafei, who arrived here last evening, suggested that India and Pakistan should hold dialogue to resolve the issue.

“We had very good talks with the Foreign Secretary… We got a full briefing from our (Indian) colleagues. We would study them of course… We would see,” He Yafei told reporters after his meeting with Menon when asked about evidence.

He noted that India has already shared the evidence with Pakistan.

“My visit here is to encourage both sides to find a way out through dialogue and consultation.. it is the best way,” the Chinese minister said while noting that he was here to assess the situation and to encourage peace and stability in the region.

He Yafei pointed out that he had travelled to Pakistan a few days ago and “there is will on both sides to encourage and find a way out through dialogue”.

China is seeking to play a mediatory role in the midst of the Indo-Pak chill. While New Delhi is not comfortable with the mediation part, it wants Beijing to use its influence with its ally Beijing to ensure end to cross-border terrorism.

Earlier, India had sought such cooperation from Saudi Arabia, another close ally of Pakistan, in this direction.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had talked to Mukherjee over phone a week ago during which the Indian leader had told him about India having the evidence to show involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the Mumbai attacks.

Yang, while agreeing that perpetrators of the attack should be brought to justice, had advised that India and Pakistan should hold dialogue for the benefit of the region.

Mukherjee urged the Chinese Foreign Minister to put pressure on its ally Pakistan to act in a concrete manner so that cross-border terrorism against India ends.

He Yafei said during his meeting with Menon, the two sides also got a chance to discuss Sino-India ties and “what we could do to further our excellent relationship.”

“Our trade has exceeded USD 50 billion last year. We want to break the record. We had set a target of USD 60 billion trade by 2010, but would certainly accomplish the target before time,” he said.

Israeli forces moved into the fringes of Gaza City as families fled or hid on the second night of combat.

The Israeli government fought off intense international pressure over its biggest military operation since its 2006 war in Lebanon, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy due in the region, as well as Russian and EU delegations.

At least 70 Palestinians have been killed since the ground offensive began on Saturday night, Gaza medics said.

Israel said one soldier was killed by a mortar shell and another 19 were wounded, bringing the total to 49 since the beginning of the incursion.

Columns of troops and tanks surrounded Gaza City and fighting was reported in outer districts.

Witnesses said tanks had cut off Gaza City and the far north from the rest of the strip, which would prevent the entry of arms, supplies and fighters from the south.

The warplanes were also bombing targets in the southern border town of Rafah, where hundreds of tunnels are used to smuggle in supplies from Egypt.

Fierce clashes were also reported around the northern towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanun and Jabaliya.

Moawiya Hassanein, head of Gaza medical emergency services, told a news agency the number of Palestinians killed since the Israeli operation was launched on December 27 was now 512, including 87 children.

Five members of the same family died when a tank shell hit their car near Gaza City, emergency services said. Three ambulance workers were killed when they were hit by a missile as they helped wounded victims of the conflict, medics said.

Aid groups said the offensive had aggravated a humanitarian crisis for the population, who have no electricity, no water and now face dire food shortages. Hospitals were only running on backup generators.

International efforts to halt the conflict sought new impetus after the UN Security Council failed to agree a statement on the conflict, with the United States giving strong backing to Israel.

Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the agency’s director of operations, said on Sunday that he was worried about the growing number of civilians being killed and injured, and hospitals being damaged. The death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to more than 512 since December 27 as Israel’s ground forces pushed deeper into the territory. Gaza officials have said at least 31 civilians were among the dead. Kraehenbuehl says firing rockets that endanger civilians also is prohibited under international law.

A delegation of Arab countries will have a meeting on Gaza situation with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Meanwhile, Russia has announced to send its special envoy to Palestine.

Israeli tanks rolled into Gaza on Saturday and engaged in night-time battles with Hamas forces after more than a week of air strikes that left hundreds of Palestinians dead and widespread destruction.

The Israeli army said “large numbers” of troops had moved into Gaza and the government called up thousands of reservists to join the ground offensive aimed at ending rocket and mortar attacks by Hamas and its militant allies.

Tanks opened up after crossing the border and casualties were reported around Gaza City and the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya.

Hamas forces fired back using mortars and rockets, witnesses said.

Gaza emergency services said one child was killed and 11 other children were wounded. They said two other Palestinians, including a woman, were killed east of Gaza City.

The Hamas television station said Israeli troops had Mbeen killed, but there was no immediate confirmation of this. Israel jammed Hamas the broadcasts, instead posting a caption reading: “Hamas leadership, your time is over.”

In a statement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said the army would take over sites from which militants have fired rockets at Israel and deal a “hard blow” to the Islamists.

“Large numbers of forces are taking part in this stage of the operation including infantry, tanks, engineering forces, artillery and intelligence,” a military spokesman said.

The military said a 20-nautical-mile naval blockade would be enforced along the coast.

Thousands of Israeli troops and tanks had encircled Gaza as artillery lobbed shells ahead of the offensive. F-16 jets roared over the enclave where at least 460 people have been killed in eight days of air attacks.

Militant rocket fire from Gaza into Israel on Saturday slightly wounded three people, and the exiled Hamas leader threatened a “black destiny” in the event of a ground invasion.

In one of the deadliest single strikes of the campaign so far, an Israeli jet hit a mosque in the northern town of Jabaliya, killing at least 16 people among more than 200 people at prayer, medics and witnesses said.

Four children — two brothers aged 10 and 12 and two cousins under 16 — were among the dead at the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque, medics said.

Dozens of wounded were dragged from the rubble.

Two Hamas military commanders were also killed in air strikes as pressure mounted on the Islamists. Their deaths came just two days after an Israeli missile killed top Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan.

Earlier a school in northern Gaza was destroyed in an air strike and a guard was killed. Israel said it had been used for firing rockets.

Israel has staged nearly 800 air raids against Hamas leaders and targets since “Operation Cast Lead” began on December 27.

Gaza medics say more than 460 Palestinians have been killed — including 75 children — and 2,310 wounded.

Four people have been killed in Israeli by more than 500 rockets fired from Gaza over the same period.

Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal warned Israel on Friday of a “black destiny” if it invaded. But Washington gave its key Middle East ally free rein to launch a ground operation.

In his weekly radio address, President George W. Bush called on Hamas “to turn away from terror” and rejected calls for a unilateral ceasefire that he said would allow the Islamists to continue hitting Israel with rockets.

There is mounting concern over the humanitarian impact of the Israeli operation. UN agencies have said there is a “critical” emergency in Gaza, where 80 percent of the 1.5 million population relies on international food aid.

Up to 100,000 Arab-Israelis attended a rally in Israel and tens of thousands joined demonstrations in London, Paris — where police fought demonstrators — and other European cities.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Olmert to halt the military action, Brown’s office said.

“The prime minister has spoken again today to Prime Minister Olmert, and is pressing hard for an immediate ceasefire,” a Downing Street statement said.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was to meet French President counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy in Ramallah on Monday before travelling to New York to appeal for a ceasefire before the UN Security Council.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II told Quartet Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair that the world’s “silence” on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was unacceptable.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday met Iran’s Supreme National Security Council chief Saeed Jalili to discuss Gaza, state media reported. He also spoke with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev.

Israel has kept Gaza virtually sealed off since Hamas seized power there in June 2007 from Fatah forces loyal to Abbas.

They say three of the dead were Hamas fighters and the rest civilians.

Dr. Said Judeh of the Kamal Adwan hospital in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya says eight people were killed in an Israeli artillery strike Sunday. He says they were among a group of people trying to leave their homes for refuge in a nearby school.

Beit Lahiya is scene of some of the heaviest fighting.

Judeh and Health Ministry official Moawiya Hassanain say five members of the same family were killed in two separate artillery hits on their home. Hassanain says that in the southern town of Rafah, a man and two teenage sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Meanwhile, Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip early Sunday, bisecting the coastal territory and surrounding its biggest city as the new phase of a devastating offensive against Hamas gained momentum.

Thousands of soldiers in three brigade-size formations pushed into Gaza after nightfall Saturday, beginning a long-awaited ground offensive after a week of intense aerial bombardment. Black smoke billowed over Gaza City at first light and bursts of machine gun fire rang out.

TV footage showed Israeli troops with night-vision goggles and camouflage face paint marching in single file. Artillery barrages preceded their advance, and they moved through fields and orchards following bomb-sniffing dogs ensuring their routes had not been booby-trapped.

The military said troops killed or wounded dozens of militant fighters, but Palestinian medical teams in Gaza, unable to move because of the fighting, could not provide accurate casualty figures.

The new deaths brought the toll in the Gaza Strip since Saturday to more than 500. Palestinian and U.N. officials say at least 100 civilians are among the dead.

Army ambulances were seen bringing Israeli wounded to a hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. The military reported 30 Israeli troops were wounded, two seriously, in the opening hours of the offensive.

In his first public comments since the ground operation was launched, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet on Sunday that Israel could not allow its civilians to continue to be targeted by rockets from Gaza.

“This morning I can look every one you in the eyes and say the government did everything before deciding to go ahead with the operation,” he said.

A senior military officer said Hamas was well-prepared for the Israeli incursion into Gaza, a densely populated territory of 1.4 million where militants operate and easily hide in the crowded urban landscape. He said the operation was “not a rapid one that would end in hours or a few days.”

Still, he said, “We have no intention of staying in the Gaza Strip for the long term.”

Israel says the objective is to restore quiet to Israel’s south, not to topple Hamas or reoccupy Gaza.

Hamas threatened to turn Gaza into a “graveyard” for Israeli forces.

“You entered like rats,” Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan told Israeli soldiers in a statement on Hamas’ Al Aqsa TV. “Gaza will be a graveyard for you, God willing.”

The ground operation is the second phase in an offensive that began as a weeklong aerial onslaught aimed at halting Hamas rocket fire that has reached deeper and deeper into Israel, threatening major cities and one-eighth of Israel’s population.

Rocket fire has persisted, however, and several rockets fell in Israel on Sunday morning, causing no casualties. In much of southern Israel school has been canceled and life has been largely paralyzed.

While the air offensive presented little risk for Israel’s army, sending in ground troops is a much more dangerous proposition. Hamas is believed to have some 20,000 gunman who know the dense urban landscape intimately. For months, Israeli leaders had resisted a ground invasion, fearing heavy casualties.

Israel also has called up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers, which defense officials said could enable a far broader ground offensive as the operation’s third phase.

The troops could also be used in the event Palestinian militants in the West Bank or Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon decide to launch attacks. Hezbollah opened a war against Israel in 2006 when it was in the midst of a large operation in Gaza.

French news agency reported that Israeli Army started their ground aggression from three places and thus far hundreds of people have been targeted, but the fierce clashed between Hamas and Israeli Army continued at several places. Emergency has been declared in Gaza hospitals, while the hospitals facing dire need of medicines.

Hamas said that Israel would have to pay heavily for the attacks on Gaza. Several raiding Israeli troops were killed and the remaining have been trapped in out defensive net, Hamas said. Hamas said that Gaza would be made the graveyard of Israeli Army.

On the other hand, Israeli Army has said that their Gaza operation aimed at decimating Hamas by occupying all those areas from where rockets were being fired. Israeli Defense Minister said that they were also ready to tackle any attack from the Lebanon side and the operation against Hamas was neither easy nor it would be short, as operation would continue fro several days. Israeli Army spokesman has claimed that scores of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza raids.

Meanwhile, the UNSC meeting mulling over the Gaza situation ended inconclusive, as the members failed to reach an agreement on resolution calling for ceasefire, condemnation of Israeli aggression and other matters.

Several have been killed as a result of the ground assault, Palestinian sources said.

The ground assault followed a weeklong campaign of airstrikes.

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was underway to discuss the situation in Gaza.

As night fell on the eighth day of the bloody conflict, both sides remained defiant, vowing to stand their ground and accusing the other of breaking a cease-fire that had been in place until last month.

Not long after Israel’s ground incursion began, Hamas vowed to “fight until the last breath” and warned Israel that “Gaza will be your cemetery.”

As the ground attack began, Hamas rockets continued to fly into southern Israel, with reporters at the Israel-Gaza border seeing and hearing several of them.

“We will not abandon the battlefield, and we will stay on the thorny course, and we will fight until the last breath,” Hamas chief spokesman Ismail Radwan said in a statement on Palestinian network Al-Aqsa.

The Israeli ground attack deepened a humanitarian crisis in Gaza that has been decried by international observers, including the United Nations.

Electricity, food and medical shortages already were a problem in the densely populated territory, concerns ramped up by the airstrikes.

An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in the northern Gaza village of Beit Lahiya on Saturday evening, killing 13 people and wounding 60, according to Palestinian medical sources.

Another airstrike killed two Hamas militants in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

Meanwhile, Hamas fighters launched 20 rockets from Gaza into Israel by late afternoon Saturday, IDF spokeswoman said.

Rockets set a house on fire in Ashkelon, damaged a kibbutz dining hall and slightly wounded two people in an eight-story building in Ashdod, according to Israeli ambulance services.

“What an aftermath we saw ?” shattered glasses mixed with blood, everybody on the ground, a bad smell, blood, remains of bodies stuck to the wall,” said Ismael Abu Ayab al-Qaraghuli. Also today, gunmen killed two people when they opened fire on a checkpoint manned by members of the Sons of Iraq in Jurf al-Sakhar, police said. Four other people were reported wounded in the attack 64 kilometers south of Baghdad. The Sons of Iraq consist of Sunni insurgents and tribesmen who turned against al-Qaida in Iraq and joined the US military in the fight against the terror group.

“The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful ceasefire that is fully respected,” Bush said in his weekly Saturday radio address, the text of which was released by the White House late Friday.

“I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace.”

She said a “durable and sustainable” ceasefire would be one which would not allow Hamas to “continue to launch rockets out of Gaza.”

“We’re going to continue our work toward a ceasefire that will not allow a return to the status quo ante and that will be durable,” Rice told reporterse after briefing US President George W Bush.

On Thursday, as Israel prepared for a major ground offensive into the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni vowed that her country would continue its offensive until it reaches a point where militants no longer fire rockets at the Jewish state.

More than 400 Palestinians have died in the air offensive that started on the weekend.

Rice said she had no plans to travel to the Middle East. Bush has been in touch with the “major leaders of the Arab states” and with the Israelis, Rice said. She has also contacted European leaders.

“The Hamas has used Gaza as a launching pad for rockets against Israeli cities and has contributed deeply to a very bad daily life for the Palestinian people in Gaza, and to a humanitarian situation that we have all been trying to address,” Rice said. “Frankly, Hamas has made it very difficult for the people of Gaza to have a reasonable life.” (dpa)

“The death toll so far is six, with one of the injured succumbing to his injuries at a hospital,” Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam government spokesperson and Health Minister, told reporters.

Three bombs rocked Assam’s main city of Guwahati Thursday - two of the explosions went off in crowded marketplaces, while the third blast was beside a roadside garbage bin.

Five people died on the spot, while 51 more were wounded in the serial bombings.

“The condition of at least four of the injured was stated to be critical,” the minister said.

Police and authorities blamed the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) for the attacks although the rebel group has not owned responsibility for the blasts.

“The ULFA is behind the explosions and intended to creating panic on new year’s day,” Assam police chief GM Srivastava said.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who arrived here soon after the blasts on a pre-scheduled visit, met the injured at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital Friday.

Chidambaram is scheduled to hold a meeting of the Unified Command in Guwahati, to be attended by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, top police officials, besides Army and paramilitary commanders, to review the security situation in the state.

Thursday’s bombings comes after a wave of explosions Oct 30, when 90 people were killed and 300 injured in nine blasts in towns and cities across Assam, including three in Guwahati.

Reportedly, one blast occurred in a crowded market at Birubari at 1.45 pm, the second blast at 2.15 pm at Bhootnath area in the city, injuring six people, and the third blast occurred at Bhangarh area.

Initial reports suggested that the Improvised Explosive devices laden on cycles were used for the low-intensity blasts.

The blast occurred at a time when Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is on a two-day visit to Assam to review the counter-insurgency situation and the prevailing law-and-order situation at a meeting of the Unified Command on Friday.

No militant outfit has yet claimed the responsibility of the blasts.

Earlier, the state witnessed serial blasts on October 30, 2008, in which 88 people were killed.

. According to some reports, the fire could have started from the short circuiting of pyrotechnics used by the music band entertaining the crowd on the stage. However, the Website of The Nation newspaper quoted one partygoer, Somchai Frendi, as saying the blaze was caused by the countdown fireworks that ignited the second floor ceiling, which was made largely of soundproofing material. The Sankita club was in the process of moving to another premises soon and the New Year’s party was to bid farewell to 2008 as well as the old premises and security arrangements here were not full proof.

The police said that the two-storey club, where over 1000 people were present at the time of the incident, was completely gutted by the fire with the front of the building blackened and partially collapsed. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva visited the still-smoldering club but did not talk to reporters.

In an interview with an Indian news channel on Thursday, he said Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of United States of America has strong evidence that they have shared with Pakistan. Pranab was of the view that an extradition treaty is not needed to handover perpetrators.

He further said that the US pressure has not had tangible results.

An FBI team, late on Wednesday night, visited Faridkot in Pakistan’s Punjab province to investigate about Ajmal Amir Iman Qasab, the lone alleged terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks. According to India’s allegations, Qasab hails from the Faridkot area.

The five-member team of the FBI was headed by its South Asian Director William Robert, news reports said adding that the purpose of the FBI team’s visit was to investigate about Qasab.

“The fire is under control and police are investigating to find out the cause. At least 59 people are confirmed dead and the toll could rise,” Vallop told media. Local media said an electrical fault was probably to blame. Various domestic media outlets put the death toll at between 50 and 55 dead.

The first attack took place mid-morning as an Iraqi police patrol cruised past, injuring several people, local policeman Ahmed Abdul Karim told a foreign news agency. As people rushed to help the wounded a second bomb detonated, killing two people, he added. No police were injured in the attacks.

The US military considers the city, Iraq’s second largest, to be the last urban stronghold of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is believed to be behind scores of devastating bombings since the 2003 US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

“The Indians are on the verge of some kind of attack on Pakistan,” such as an air attack on suspected militant camps, he told a daily newspaper in his home state Arizona published Monday. Pakistan Tuesday saw some positive signs over the last two days in Indian leaders’ statements but recommended New Delhi de-activate its forward air bases and move its ground troops back to peacetime locations to resume friendly atmosphere.

“I think it’s a very dicey situation,” McCain told The Daily Courier, noting how both countries have nuclear weapons. “We’re going to be in for a very difficult time there,” added McCain, who earlier this month visited both New Delhi and Islamabad as part of US efforts to avert any standoff between them. The world capitals including Washington and Beijing have been making diplomatic efforts to urge Pakistan and India to ease the situation. McCain’s remarks corroborated Islamabad’s position last week on New Delhi readying its forces as the Pakistani officials said India had resorted to some “potentially dangerous” moves.
Meanwhile, leaders on both sides have called for peace with Pakistan emphasizing cooperative efforts against violent extremism.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said in a statement that India had deployed ground forces to forward positions and activated forward airbases.

Mukherjee denied the claim and said that there had been no such action on the part of India to escalate tension.

The military movements of the Indian army were a “normal winter exercise”, the minister told the state news agency.