The United Nations Security Council has urged India and Pakistan to ease tension and avoid military conflict, Pakistan said on Tuesday, as hostilities between the nuclear-armed rivals surge after a deadly attack on tourists in disputed Kashmir.

Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, a controversial cleric of Islamabad's Lal Masjid, recently criticised the Pakistani administration and military and accused them of bombing their countrymen, as he cited the situation in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan carried out a second missile test in three days on Monday after saying it was preparing for an incursion by India, as Moody's warned that the standoff over violence in Kashmir could set back Islamabad's economic reforms.