NEW DELHI, 14 October 2005— India is dispatching a second consignment of relief supplies for the victims of Saturday’s devastating earthquake in Pakistan, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
“The supplies total 82 tons which includes 5,000 blankets, 370 tents, five tons of plastic sheets and 12 tons of medicines,” it said in a statement.
“The supplies are being sent by a train leaving New Delhi tonight (Thursday) through Attari-Wagah route,” it said, referring to the only rail link between the rivals who have fought two of their three wars over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
On Wednesday, an Indian air force Ilyushin-76 aircraft flew seven truck loads of army medicines, 15,000 blankets and 50 tents to Pakistan after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered Islamabad any help it required.
That consigment - the first such airlift between the neighbors in decades - was seen as adding new impetus to peace efforts between the two nations.
Meanwhile, the Indian side of a mountain highway connecting divided Kashmir would take at least two months to be repaired after it was damaged in last week’s killer earthquake, an Indian Army general said.
The 170-km (105-mile) highway connects Srinagar, capital of Indian Kashmir, to Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir. The last stretch of the winding road was rebuilt and a historic bus service between the two Kashmirs launched in April, connecting the two sides for the first time in nearly 60 years.
“The four-km stretch between Jallas and Kaman Post is completely damaged,” Lt. Gen. S.S. Dhillon told reporters, referring to the last stretch of the road on the Indian side of the rugged Himalayan frontier.
The Pakistani side of the highway is believed to have suffered more damage but it was not immediately known how long it would take to repair that stretch of the road. It will only be clear when the Pakistani engineers make their assessment.
Besides the road, the so-called Peace Bridge across a Himalayan stream that marks the military cease-fire line between the two Kashmirs, was also damaged by the tremors, causing the bus service to be suspended indefinitely.
In Calcutta, hundreds of Indians took part in an emotional prayer meeting in this eastern city yesterday to mourn the victims of last weekend’s quake that killed thousands in South Asia.
Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Sikh priests read passages from their religious texts and sang hymns at a Catholic church here in the memory of the people killed by the quake in Indian and Pakistani administered Kashmir and other parts of Pakistan on Saturday.
“India and Pakistan should be united for relief of the victims of the earthquake,” said Idris Ali, president of All India Minority Forum, which organized the prayer meet. Muslim cleric Maulana Abdul Rahaman said, “God has taken away so many valuable lives. We pray to God to protect those who are still alive.”
About 300 people attended the meeting, most of whom were visibly distraught and moved to tears when speakers mentioned the earthquake victims.
And a British charity appeal for survivors of the Pakistan earthquake has raised 5 million pounds ($8.7 million) in two days, organizers said yesterday.
“It is clear the public are not experiencing donor fatigue,” said Brendan Gormley, chief executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee.
“Quite the opposite — we are humbled by the seemingly limitless compassion of the British public,” he said.
