ISLAMABAD, 21 October 2005 — Pakistan yesterday said India had turned down its suggestion to allow civilians to cross the boundary of divided Kashmir to help each other in quake reconstruction efforts. India, however, said it was awaiting more details on Pakistan’s proposal.
“It was not accepted,” Maj. Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan, Pakistan’s relief commissioner, said of his government’s proposal. He said India had attached “conditions” to the proposal.
But Navtej Sarna, spokesman for the Indian Foreign Ministry, said there had been no new developments since India initially welcomed the offer, and that New Delhi was still awaiting more details of the proposal from Pakistan.
The Foreign Ministry has asked Islamabad for concrete details of the plan and Indian officials say they are still waiting for a response.
“We are still waiting for operationalization details,” Sarna said.
Indian media reported that the government would not act until Pakistan, where some 3.3 million have been left homeless in the disaster, set out just how the historic crossings would actually happen.
Neither the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad nor his counterpart in New Delhi have been in touch with the foreign ministries in their host nations, the Hindustan Times said.
India’s director-general of military operations, Lt. Gen. Madan Gopal, made it clear New Delhi was in no hurry.
“Let the details be analyzed by the Ministry of External Affairs. We will also have to look at the security concerns... there will be no let up in our vigil,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
“There is no question of the entire LoC being opened up for relief operations. Certain routes can be opened up for relief operations” Gopal said.
On Tuesday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said his government would allow Kashmiris to come across the Line of Control, and he suggested that political leaders on both sides of the disputed territory coordinate relief efforts. Musharraf spoke in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir. The city was badly damaged in the Oct. 8 earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people, most of them in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir.
India has sent some quake relief supplies to Pakistan. New Delhi offered helicopters to assist in relief missions, but turned down a Pakistani suggestion that it send the military aircraft without crews.
Peace negotiations between the nuclear rivals led to the opening in April of a bus service linking the two sides of Kashmir, although the quake has destroyed part of the road and damaged a bridge linking the territories.
Delhi is also considering establishing another five crossing points along the LOC.
These would be at Poonch, Rajouri, Suchetgarh, and the two worst-hit districts of Uri and Tangdhar, the Indian Express newspaper said yesterday, adding that a sixth crossing was possible at Kargil.
“Only a few routes will be opened, which will be sufficient for sending help to the victims,” Home Ministry Secretary D.K. Sankaran said.
“There is no problem if the right people come through the LOC. There is a humanitarian angle to it. We can surely work out a method.” The now-halted bus service, for which prospective passengers must register and face strict vetting, could serve as an example, Home Ministry officials say. — Additional input from agencies.
