General Ashfaq Kayani made the call during a meeting with visiting Chinese vice foreign minister He Yafei, who was dispatched by Beijing to Islamabad as part of an international effort to restore calm between the South Asian rivals.

'The army chief highlighted the need to de-escalate and avoid conflict in the interest of peace and security,' Pakistan's military said in a statement following Monday's meeting in the garrison town of Rawalpindi near the capital.

Gen Kayani's remarks followed an unscheduled weekend conversation between senior military officials from India and Pakistan over the hotline linking the two states.

The directors general of military operations (DGMOs) made contact after Pakistani officials said troops had been moved to the Indian border and leave had been cancelled for soldiers on active duty, sparking concern in New Delhi.

'The DGMOs talked to each other on the hotline,' a Pakistani military official told AFP. He declined to reveal details of the discussion.

Relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, which New Delhi has blamed on Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). A total of 172 people were killed, including nine gunmen.

Pakistani officials said last week that the military had redeployed a 'limited' number of troops from tribal areas near Afghanistan, where they are fighting Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, to the eastern border with India.

The move prompted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to summon his military chiefs for a strategy session, and New Delhi advised its nationals not to travel to Pakistan.

An Indian army spokesman told AFP that New Delhi had not shifted any troops on its side of the already heavily militarised common border.

The United States and Russia have led international calls for calm in both Islamabad and New Delhi. Leaders in both capitals have repeatedly said they do not want war but would act if provoked.

China, one of Pakistan closest allies, dispatched Yafei to Islamabad for talks with Kayani, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other top officials.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.

They came to the brink of a fourth war after an attack on the Indian parliament in late 2001 - a strike New Delhi also blamed on LeT.

Both sides deployed hundreds of thousands of troops to the border but they eventually pulled back following intense international mediation. -- AFP