Proposals to India on facilitating 2-way movement of Kashmiris: PM
By Maria A Khan - PakistanTimes.net Special Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has handed over specific proposals to India for allowing Kashmiris living on both sides of the Line of Control [LoC] to help each other in relief and reconstruction efforts, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Saturday said.

"We have identified five points for two-way movement of Kashmiris across the LoC," he told reporters here.

President General Pervez Musharraf had made the proposal on October-18 in Muzaffarabad. Prime Minister Aziz said through these points relief goods from Pakistan could also go to the Indian Occupied Kashmir and, similarly, relief goods from there could come to Azad Kashmir. 

The October-8 earthquake killed over 51,000 people in AJK and NWFP and also caused fatalities in the Indian Held Kashmir. The Prime Minister hoped that Indian government would consider these proposals.

Responding to a question, the Prime Minister welcomed a proposal by the members of the Kashmir Committee to send relief goods to the Indian Occupied Kashmir. The government would help them in this regard and would also ask the Indian government to facilitate in sending relief goods from here to the Occupied Kashmir, he added.

India Reax

And a report from New Delhi says that India has offered to open three relief centres for victims of the South Asia earthquake along the Line of Control [LoC] in the Himalayan State of Jammu & Kashmir.

Survivors from both sides of the LoC could meet family members there and receive medical assistance, India's external affairs ministry announced.

A spokesman said the ministry was awaiting Pakistan's response.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, and relations between the two sides remain tense over the Kashmir dispute. The relief centres mooted would be at Kaman Post in Uri district, Tithwal in Tangdhar and Chakan Dabagh in Poonch. They could be operational by October-25, external affairs spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters.

"People from across the Line of Control will be allowed to come in during daylight hours after suitable screening and then return," Sarna said. He added they would have access to food, clothing and medical relief and would be allowed to meet relatives residing in India held-Kashmir.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had earlier suggested opening up the heavily-militarised border to help the relief operation following the quake which killed more than 50,000 people.

Following India's offer, Pakistan announced it had submitted to New Delhi details of Musharraf's plan to open the Kashmir border.

Victims be compensated before Eid

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Cabinet Committee on Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation on Saturday asked the governments of Azad Kashmir and NWFP to collect data of quake dead and injured to pay compensation to maximum number of victims before Eid, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

Briefing the journalists on the meeting, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said it urged the general public to donate maximum number of tents and blankets for the quake-stricken area where winter is expected to set in soon. "We have got plenty of medicines and ration. But what we need are tents and blankets," he said.

Pakistan, he added, has also appealed the international community for these most essential items.

Call for Tents

"Local industry has also been asked to produce 300,000 tents which are needed in the quake-affected areas of AJK and NWFP." He said new tent villages will be set up at Fateh Jang and Chakwal to accommodate people displaced by the earthquake while `transit' will be provided to them in Islamabad's sector H-11.

The halls of four schools in Rawalpindi will be converted into makeshift hospitals for patients with bone injuries, he added. The Minister said the Punjab government has been asked to make arrangements for extra 25,000 beds in hospitals to cope with the rush of wounded persons.

Sheikh Rashid said each cabinet member has been asked to visit the affected areas for one day. "They should go there purely for relief work without any protocol," he said.

Replying to a question, the minister said the relief work will pick up pace once all the roads are opened for traffic, though the helicopters are reaching even the far off areas. Sheikh Rashid said there were some 25 percent areas which can be called 'inaccessible' and are mostly situated in Neelum Valley and Kaghan Valley.

"But aid and relief operation in these areas is going on through helicopters," he added. There have been a few incidents of looting of trucks carrying relief goods, but the situation is now improving gradually.

"The people who loot these trucks have got nothing to do with quake affectees. They will not be spared." Replying to a question, Sheikh Rashid said despite all the CBMs and improvement of relations with India, some apprehensions are always there. "That is why Pakistan cannot accept Indian helicopters with Indian pilots."●