UPDATE 2-India calls off Pakistan cricket tour

NEW DELHI, Dec 18 (Reuters) - India has called off its planned cricket tour of Pakistan next year amid simmering tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours over last month's Mumbai attacks, an official said on Thursday.

"The proposed tour of the Indian cricket team to Pakistan stands cancelled," Rajeev Shukla, a senior official from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, told reporters outside India's parliament.

India has blamed Islamist militants based in Pakistan for last month's attacks in India's financial heart which killed at least 179 people.

The Jan. 13-Feb. 19 tour was to have involved three tests, five one-day games and a Twenty20 international, but required government approval.

"Taking into account the recent developments as well as the overall circumstances prevailing at present, it is not considered feasible to ask government permission for the proposed tour," Shukla said.

Political commentators said the decision would further harm relations between India and Pakistan, which are both passionate about cricket.

"India is reducing its contact with Pakistan and the cricket tour had to be the first casualty," political analyst Amulya Ganguli told Reuters. "There is no immediate chance of any improvement of relations between the two countries now."

Others thought the tour should have gone ahead.

"I wish the tour had gone ahead as it could have generated some goodwill at a time when it is needed the most," said political commentator Kuldip Nayar.

U.S. and British officials have joined New Delhi in calling on Pakistan to do more to stamp out militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, which they blame for the Mumbai attacks, from operating on its soil.

They have also urged restraint from India in its response to the attack and offered help in investigations as well as in the fight against militancy in both countries, which have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.