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Britain plans emergency evacuation of citizens from India, Pak

Concerned over a possible nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan, Britain is drawing up a contingency plan for emergency evacuation of Britons from the two countries in the event of a war.

British intelligence sources voiced fears that the two countries were locked on a path to the world's first nuclear exchange, even as British Prime Minister Tony Blair told his cabinet that the situation was now 'desperately serious'.

The government is so alarmed by one of the most pessimistic intelligence assessments since the Cuban missile crisis that the military has been ordered to start planning for the possible emergency evacuation of Britons from India and Pakistan, The Times daily reported on Friday.

Quoting military sources, the report said options were being studied and all the consequences of a nuclear war were being examined.

In the past 24 hours, Blair has telephoned US President George W Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin urging them to exert maximum pressure on both sides to pull back from the abyss and resume dialogue.

During the 15-minute telephone call, Blair and Putin said it was essential for an agreement to enable dialogue to take place.

The discussion followed a similar call about Kashmir from Blair to Bush on Wednesday night, a spokesman said.

Before the call, Blair told Cabinet ministers that the issue was 'a desperately serious situation'.

The fear in Britain's intelligence services is that neither leadership is listening to reason and that with more than a million soldiers lined up against each other, it would be difficult for either to be seen to be backing down.

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