Laxminarayan Ramdas, currently spearheading a civil rights movement to forge peace, said that if India and Pakistan could not build bridges and make peace, the threat of nuclear war "will always remain" a possibility.

"There is no doubt that no matter where nuclear weapons tend to raise their heads, then the lights will start flashing, whether it is full blown nuclearization or various degrees of proliferation," said the 1994 winner of the Magsaysay Award, Asia's version of the Nobel prize.

"So that is why we want to avoid war and any further controversy. Otherwise, I am afraid it (Kashmir) will remain (a nuclear flashpoint) whether we like it or not.

Ramdas, who went through two and a half wars against Pakistan during his naval stint, said "it is very difficult to draw a line and say we (India and Pakistan) will only fight a conventional war.

"Who knows how minds work, who gets pushed to what corner. It is safe to assume the worst," he said at a news conference when asked whether Kashmir remained a nuclear flashpoint.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf warned Wednesday that peace moves could stall unless the two sides made progress on the key issue of Kashmir.

The two nuclear-armed neighbors have been engaged in what they call a "composite dialogue" since January last year on resolving eight bilateral disputes, including the core problem of Kashmir, which is divided between them. Both claim it in full.

They have been holding official talks since January last year, including on Kashmir which caused two of their three wars and brought them close to a fourth war in 2002.

The talks led to an upcoming launch of landmark bus service between the two zones.

Despite the enthusiasm generated by the bus service, analysts said little progress has been made on the Kashmir dispute.

The 70-year-old Ramdas, chairperson of the India chapter of the Pakistan-India People Forum, suggested that the two countries declare a "nuclear ceasefire" to forge "real peace" and set the stage for a step-by-step global nuclear disarmament process.

Ramdas was in the United States to participate in a fellowship program with the US-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

Arjun Makhijani, the institute's president, said a "ceasefire" should also be enforced for civilian nuclear facilities following world attention on Iran's nuclear activities.

"Some ceasefire, so to speak, is also needed on the civilian side in that the United States and the West should stop planning new uranium enrichment plants," he said.

The United States says it suspects Iran is behind a covert nuclear weapons program and has joined the European Union in wooing the Islamic republic with incentives to give up enrichment.

Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for civilian nuclear reactors but can also be the explosive core of atom bombs.

Makhijani said that in the United States, licenses were being applied for the setting up of uranium enrichment plants in New Mexico and Ohio, while plans were underway in Europe to expand such plants.

The New Mexico plant is a collaboration between European and American companies.

"So they are saying we can get together and do this but you (Iran) can't do it," Makhijani said. "I agree with the US position actually that enrichment is a proliferation problem but the solution is a little bit deficient."

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