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ISLAMABAD, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Pakistan and India, in a rare confidence-building measure, renewed an agreement on Wednesday not to attack each other's nuclear installations and facilities, the Pakistan foreign ministry said in a statement.

The move coincides with easing tensions between the bitter nuclear rivals as hundreds of thousands of troops, deployed along their common border after a deadly attack on India's parliament in December 2001, are withdrawn.

"Both countries are required to exchange on the first working day of every year information on their nuclear installations and facilities," the statement said.

"Accordingly, information on nuclear installations and facilities of both sides was exchanged today through diplomatic channels."

The exchange of information, under an agreement dating back to 1991, effectively means the two nations are committed not to attack each other's nuclear installations and facilities.

A year ago the lists were exchanged during the biggest military build-up along the frontier in 15 years after the attack on India's parliament which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based groups fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir. Pakistan denied the charge.

India accuses Pakistan of arming radical Islamic groups and allowing them to cross from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to the Indian side of the disputed region to fight a separatist insurgency there.

Pakistan denies the charge. It says it offers diplomatic and moral support to what it calls a legitimate freedom struggle.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee asked Pakistan on Tuesday to end its focus on the Kashmir dispute, the trigger of two wars between the neighbours, and boost cultural and economic ties to help ease hostility.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said on Monday the threat of a "non-conventional war" helped prevent a conflict in 2002. His spokesman stressed that he had not meant a nuclear conflict but a popular uprising against Indian troops by Kashmiris.

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