NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, 23 December — Tension in South Asia remained at boiling point yesterday with India moving troops to its border with Pakistan and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf describing Delhi’s decision to recall its high commissioner (ambassador) to Pakistan as "very arrogant."

"We regret the very arrogant and knee-jerk response of the Indian government," Musharraf said during a visit to China. He was referring to India’s decision on Friday to recall its envoy and suspend rail and road links with its western neighbor.

At the same time Pakistan reiterated yesterday that it would not take any retaliatory action. "The present tension in relations between India and Pakistan can be defused only if contacts are maintained," said Pakistan’s secretary for information, Syed Anwar Mehmood. Deploring India’s decision, Mehmood said: "We absolutely do not intend to call back our high commissioner from India. We want the contacts to be maintained so that relations might improve instead of tensions escalating."

A senior Pakistani military official said that India had moved "huge numbers of troops to the border in a very aggressive posture". "Indian troops in massive numbers have advanced from their peace locations to forward areas during the last 12 hours along the Line of Control and the international border," said the official who declined to be identified.

The official said Pakistan was taking counter-measures against the "menacing build-up," including increased surveillance and monitoring of the border and beefed-up defenses along the Line of Control.

An Indian Army spokesman said the troop movements along the Indo-Pakistani border were only a "precautionary measure" taken because of "heavy Pakistani build-up at a number of places in various sectors from Kashmir to Rajasthan along the international border and the Line of Control." The Line of Control is the de factor border between the two countries in Kashmir, which is partly held by India and Pakistan and claimed by both.

Pakistan’s air force chief said defense forces were ready to give a matching response to any "misadventure" by India along their common border. "Pakistani military commanders have strategies to respond to such a move," he said, referring to India’s border troop build-up. "There is nothing to be worried about — Pakistan’s armed forces are fully prepared," he said. "We are fully prepared and can take any challenge."

Troops of the two countries exchanged small arms and machine-gun fire at some places along the border. A senior Indian defense official said the exchange of fire along the border in the Jammu and Kashmir state was not alarming. "From a military point of view it is a routine fire given the volatile situation along the borders with Pakistan", the official, who did not wish to identified, said.

The government in Azad Kashmir ordered all necessary arrangements to be made in case of war breaking out, and doctors and medical staff were ordered to return to work and cancel any planned holidays.

India has blamed Pakistan for a Dec. 13 attack on its parliament in which 14 people, including all five gunmen, were killed. Delhi yesterday demanded the arrest of the leaders of the Pakistan-based groups it has blamed for the attack and said it was awaiting "meaningful action from Islamabad." "Of course, we want them to be apprehended. They have engaged in criminal activity. They have indulged in terrorism, they have instigated activities against our state and our democracy" Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Nirupama Rao, told reporters.

India blames the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attack and has demanded Pakistan close down the groups. Pakistan has denied any involvement in the Dec. 13 attack.

Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani said the decision to recall the envoy from Pakistan was a carefully measured step to make Islamabad "pay the price" for failing to crack down on militants. "We said all options were open and we weighed the situation," Advani said in an interview with the Hindustan Times. "I have always said that we have to fight terrorism alone. Nobody will help us," Advani said

President George W. Bush said Friday that the United States was "very much involved" in defusing tensions between India and Pakistan.