Fearing the birth of grave crisis in Indo-Pak relations in the wake of Mumbai terrorist attacks, the US, UK and other world players are in constant touch with Islamabad and New Delhi to avert any possible confrontation between the South Asian nuclear neighbours.

Not only the global players are worried about the possible Indo-Pak row but Pakistan's ruling circles have also sensed the gravity of the situation and established close contact with India both through formal and informal diplomatic channels, said the officials privy to developments in Islamabad and New Delhi after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed over 100 people and left nearly 250 injured.

Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, currently visiting India, has also offered a hotline between intelligence chiefs of the two countries while condemning the terrorist acts in Mumbai in the strongest possible terms.

He said Pakistan was ready to cooperate with India in launching a probe into the acts of terrorism in Mumbai, according to media reports from New Delhi.

President Asif Ali Zardari, according to officials, also telephoned Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to condemn the terrorist attacks in Bombay. He termed the killing of the innocent a detestable act.

An official here requesting anonymity said that the leading world nations like US and UK had a fair idea of possible Indo-Pak row after the Mumbai attacks and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's address to the nation on Thursday (November 27) proved that their concerns were not misplaced.

In a clear reference to Pakistan, Prime Minister Singh said India's neighbours should stop groups using their territories to launch terrorist strikes.

"We will take up strongly with our neighbours that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated," he said adding that there would be a cost if they did not take suitable measures.

The official said that the world important capitals were trying to defuse the tension between Islamabad and New Delhi, as they believed that the Mumbai attacks were the handiwork of those elements that did not want the normalisation of Indo-Pak ties.

The US and its allies in war on terror believed that resurfacing of tension between Islamabad and New Delhi after years of improved relations would badly impact the anti-terrorism global campaign.

Pakistan, he said, had expressed its willingness to fully cooperate with India in the probe into Mumbai attacks in its interaction with the world powers but at the same time it had also asked the global players to prevail upon India not to indulge in old practice of blaming Islamabad for all its troubles. (By SHAIQ HUSSAIN/The Nation (Pakistan)/ANN)