NEW DELHI, 24 October 2005 — The earthquake in northern Pakistan killed tens of thousands of people but it could have been the perfect opportunity for India and Pakistan to cast aside decades of rivalry and come together to help the survivors. More than a million people are homeless in Pakistan and tens of thousands in India after the Oct. 8 earthquake smashed houses, buildings and schools across the mountainous region. At least 53,000 people died in Pakistan and about 1,300 in Indian Kashmir.
Roads are blocked by landslides, making it difficult for international aid to be taken up to the survivors. Temperatures are below freezing and a hard winter is about to set in, but the two countries, who could do much to help each other, are mired in the same suspiciousness and one-upmanship which has marked their ties since independence in 1947.
“They mulishly continue to defy the forces of rationality, geography and logistics by refusing to open up the Line of Control so that relief material could quickly cross it,” Indian columnist Praful Bidwai said of the line dividing Kashmir. Writing in Pakistan’s The News, he characterized their exchanges since the disaster as “repeated instances of childishness marked by peevish tit-for-tat responses”.
The Line of Control in Kashmir is one of the most militarized frontiers in the world. Pakistan is accepting aid from India, but refuses to let Indian troops join the rescue work on Pakistani soil. Pakistan needs more helicopters to drop aid and bring out casualties, but President Pervez Musharraf told India he would accept them only if they came without crews given the enormous political sensitivity.
India said no. Last week, Pakistan said it was willing to throw open the frontier to allow Kashmiris on either side to cross and help each other. India agreed, but said it couldn’t do much until it received a formal proposal.
Both sides accept that strategic interests are paramount. “There are military defense plans, there is defense deployment here, all over, like on the Indian side,” Musharraf told the BBC of his decision not to allow Indian helicopter crews across the frontier. “We don’t want the military to be coming here, not at all.” He said Pakistan was ready to accept all other help, and talks had to be held with India on how the Line of Control dividing Kashmir could be opened for the benefit of survivors.
New Delhi is not too happy about that, especially since it has long claimed that an insurgency in Indian Kashmir is bolstered by militants coming across the border. Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the BBC the earthquake could not change the history of the two nations, though it could lead to better understanding between them.
“Places could be identified for them,” he said, referring to potential crossing points on the frontier. “But it cannot be opened for anybody and everybody. “An earthquake cannot alter the history of the last 50 years,” he said. “But it can provide an opportunity by creating an atmosphere where we can provide assistance to the victims and surely, in that condition, better understanding is possible.”
As of Sunday, India has offered to set up three relief centers along the Line of Control. Islamabad said it had sent India a proposal for five border crossing points, adding it hoped talks could be held before the end of the month. Maj. Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan, chief coordinator of the relief effort in Pakistan, was angry at the delay. “Long parleys on modalities to open the Line of Control means the window is closing,” he said. “Should time be wasted when the proposal has been given or should you wait for the proposal to come in writing? At this point of time at the Line of Control, the divided families need to join together. That’s the bottom line.”
Many feel the statements by the two countries are just exercises in public relations. “There’s a lot of dash in the announcements, but if they have to be meaningful they have to be negotiated away from the glare of the media at the bilateral level,” senior Indian defense analyst Uday Bhaskar told Reuters. “Unless there’s a consensus on both sides, the implementation of the statements on relief will hit a cul-de-sac. The only institution that provides aid is the army, and if that is not allowed, then the offer is self-defeating.”
Kashmiris on both sides say this is nothing new. “The greatest tragedy is that every humanitarian crisis they politicize,” Amanullah Khan, leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front which seeks an independent Kashmir, told Reuters in the battered Kashmiri town of Bagh. “The urgency of this thing will compel India and Pakistan to come closer, if they are sincere. Otherwise, they are playing politics at our cost.”
Talat Masood, a former Pakistan Army general, called on both governments to act boldly. “Both sides are showing great hesitation. Both have reservations on some issues. India must be concerned about militants crossing. India needs assurances that only genuine people cross the border. “Pakistan could be uneasy on the position of Indian military. But both the countries should take a bold decision, breaking from their past, to transform their relationship.”
