The British Foreign Office and law enforcement authorities are already in a tizzy over what is arguably the world's tensest sporting face-off, including the football clash between El Salvador and Honduras that led to the infamous Soccer War.

Come June 8, Manchester, the venue of the India vs Pakistan game, will resemble a war zone. The British police and Scotland Yard are expected to take extraordinary measures to prevent any trouble.

``We will be taking advice from all relevant bodies and putting into place whatever security measures are necessary,'' a Manchester police spokesman told a local paper. ``We want it to be just another cricket match.''

The authorities are also considering banning alcohol on the ground and physically separating the two fans, which is normal in soccer buthas not happened in cricket so far.

The upcoming clash is considered so newsy that it figured as the lead story in The Daily Telegraph. ``England's loss has even managed to create a new threat to peace: The victorious Indians are now set for a showdown with their Pakistani rivals,'' the venerable Times mused in an editorial comment on England's exit form the tournament.

Manchester has roughly equal Indian and Pakistani population, though Indians outnumber Pakistanis 2 to 1 nationwide. Unlike in the US, however, where Indians and Pakistanis share a largely congenial relationship, the sub-continentals in Britain carry a lot of baggage.

The tensions seem more because of religious and ethnic differences. Ties have also been strained by several incidents of violence between communities, especially in the English Midlands, where the population is more even.

Also, unlike the largely white-collar immigration to the US, the diaspora in Britain is mainly blue-collar. Drinking and hooliganism,endemic among English sports fans, has caught on among the emigres too.

Leaders of the two communities, including diplomats, have tried to cool things off. The Indian High Commissioner to Britain, Lalit Man Singh, last week attended a party for Pakistani cricketers hosted by Riaz Samee, the Pakistani High Commissioner. Samee is expected to reciprocate the gesture today.

The fans, though, have been less friendly. At each of the venues where one of the other country has played so far, there has been plenty of thigh-slapping. India and Pakistan have not met in a World Cup game in England, but India have beaten the old rivals in their two other World Cup clashes -- in Australia in 1992 (when Pakistan went on to win the Cup) and in Bangalore in 1996.

The two sides have met in friendlies in England and even then the game has been wrecked by louts. Pakistani fans have disrupted the game every time their side has been at the losing end, including one instance when a charity match at London's Crystal Palace forImran Khan's cancer hospital was ruined.

There will also be plenty of tension on the field. Pakistani pace ace Shoaib Akhtar will resume his battle with Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar who, it is said, never forgets a batting slight.

Earlier this year, Akhtar bowled Tendulkar first ball in the Calcutta Test to inflict the most hurtful scar on Indian cricket since Javed Miandad's last-ball six in Sharjah.

Shoiab is straining at the leash and he will smell blood not only at the sight of Indian batsmen, but also the speed gun which is being introduced at the Super Six stage.

Someone else will also be eyeing the speed gun. There are many pundits who believe the Javagal Express can also let it rip as fast as the Rawalpindi Superfast, so one can expect many `oohs' and `aahs' in Manchester.