"It is a frustrating experience," said Ghulam Qadir, 72, whose sister, son-in-law and brother-in-law died in Muzaffarabad district of Pakistani Kashmir in the October 8 earthquake.

"My son went to the local authorities to ask if we could get permission to meet my relatives but they are mum. They have been telling him to come the next day. I still do not know if they will let us go," Qadir said in Uri, the hardest-hit district in Indian Kashmir.

"As time passes by we are losing hope. I want to know why there is a delay and who is responsible? If your family is in trouble only your relatives will help," he said near his destroyed house.

Seventeen days after the 7.6-magnitude quake ravaged Kashmir, leaving 53,000 people dead in Pakistan and 1,329 on the Indian side of the divided territory, the de facto border between the two zones has yet to be opened.

Aid workers say that opening up the Line of Control (LoC) that splits the Himalayan region would enable them to reach areas on the Pakistan side now only accessible by helicopter.

India has proposed opening three points on the LoC where survivors could cross into the Indian zone for relief and medical treatment.

Pakistan on its part has proposed five points where it says Kashmiris should be allowed to cross in either direction to reach stricken family members and where relief can be facilitated.

Officials from the two countries, which have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, are to meet in Islamabad Friday to discuss their varying proposals.

In New Delhi, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Indian army was already in a position to open up the relief centres.

"The three points have become fully operational for providing relief to people from across the LoC and whosoever is in a position to come across will receive medical treatment and relief material," he told reporters.

The minister, however, ruled out any help to rebuild Pakistani military installations flattened by the tremors.

"It will not be desirable on our part to help in any re-establishment of their military establishments," Mukherjee added.

But survivors in Uri, five kilometres (three miles) from the LoC, say time is running out and want immediate decisions.

"We are a region with two masters. One is India and the other Pakistan. Each of them want to stick to their viewpoint and we are at the receiving end. In a calamity such as an earthquake we should be allowed to take our own decisions," Qadir said.

Another homeless Uri resident, Abdul Rahim, 52 said he had visited the offices of local authorities for permission to cross the border "quite a few times" in the past few days.

"Every time they told me they were in the dark. I had to turn back," Rahim said. "At this hour my relatives whose children have died need me. In my case only my house was flattened. It is the duty of the government to act on humanitarian grounds.

"A day's delay is like an year to me."

Officials said they were helpless.

"How can I respond?" Shahid Meraj, Uri's deputy police chief, told AFP.

"A lot of coordination goes into the international effort to open the border. Unless the green signal comes from the federal government my hands are tied."

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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