ISLAMABAD, 29 October 2005 — Pakistani and Indian officials will meet here today to discuss their plans on how to help Kashmiris, who were the worst hit by the Oct. 8 disaster and make up the majority of the 55,000 dead. The officials will try to iron out their differences and find ways to jointly work for the rescue and rehabilitation of the affected Kashmiris on both sides of the LOC.
The Indian delegation will be led by Joint Secretary Dilip Sinha at the talks.
India said on Thursday that it had pledged $25 million to Pakistan following the quake, but efforts to let aid flow across the highly militarized Line of Control in Kashmir have been beset by problems.
Despite warnings that tens of thousands of survivors trapped in remote villages in Pakistani Kashmir may die of exposure before relief workers can reach them, the two countries have been unable to reach a compromise. Early last week President Pervez Musharraf proposed opening five crossing points on the Line of Control which Kashmiris on both sides of the divide could use to reach stricken relatives. India’s counterproposal is to establish relief camps at three points on the frontier and it has already stockpiled aid at the locations — Teetwal in the district of Tangdhar, Kaman Post in devastated Uri district and at Chakan Dabagh in southern Kashmir’s Poonch district.
Musharraf has released more than $30 million for reconstruction in far-flung areas from a special fund set up after the 7.6 magnitude quake, officials said yesterday.
Meanwhile officials said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former US President Bill Clinton may also visit Pakistan in the near future in a bid to secure more aid from the international community before winter sets in.
A Foreign Office official said Annan may visit Pakistan, possibly during a donors’ conference in Islamabad on Nov. 18.
Clinton could also come, in what would be an echo of the tours he made of areas devastated by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, she said. Arrangements for both visits were being finalized, she said. Annan has led calls for rich nations to contribute more to relief efforts.
According to experts and economic managers, the earthquake will have little fallout on the economy. The GDP growth will remain to the tune of 6.7 percent during the period 2005-2006. Omar Ayub, minister of state for finance, said, “the earthquake has not affected the industrial and agro-based industrial zones. These zones are located in central Punjab and Sindh province.
However the current account deficit will widen to 3.4 percent of the GDP in 2005.
Chaudhry Shahbaz, a minister in charge of population welfare and development told Arab News, “We will have to make reallocations in certain heads as we have to re-establish the infrastructure and reconstruct general services including roads, telecommunication networks, electric supply or transmission systems.” The rise in unemployment due to the quake will, nevertheless, put strain on the economy.
— Additional input from Agencies
