India Not To Allow Unchecked Flow Of People Across Kashmir Border

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Pakistani soldiers evacuate an injured ethnic Pashtun child, victim of the October 8 earthquake, 22 October 2005 in the Pashto area of the mountainous north Pakistan. Assistance and food supplies reached the day before with the army this remote area where more than 200 people died in the quake and its aftermath. India said it plans to set up three relief centres on quake-hit Kashmir's de facto border early next week to provide help for survivors from Pakistan's zone of the disputed region after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf earlier suggested both countries open up the heavily militarised border to aid relief efforts after the October 8 earthquake which killed more than 50,000 people in the Kashmir region, most of them on the Pakistani side. Afp Photo Eric Feferberg.

New Delhi (AFP) Oct 21, 2005
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said India will not allow the unchecked flow of people through the de facto border dividing disputed Kashmir between India and Pakistan in the wake of an earthquake that killed more than 52,000 in the region.

Mukherjee said some places could be identified along the Line of Control (LoC) where relief material for quake victims could be sent across freely, the Press Trust of India reported Friday.

The minister was responding to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's suggestion Tuesday of opening up the heavily militarised border to allow Indian Kashmiris to cross over to aid stricken relatives in the Pakistani zone.

"If it (Islamabad's proposal) covers those carrying relief material, they can go without obstacles ... Places could be identified for them. But it (LoC) cannot be opened for anybody and everybody," Mukherjee said.

The "earthquake cannot alter the history of last 50 years and I am putting it very candidly," he said referring to the rivalry between India and Pakistan over competing claims over Kashmir.

The scenic Himalayan region, which was devastated by the October 8 quake, has been the trigger for two of three wars between the South Asian nuclear rivals since 1947.

The 7.6-magnitude quake killed 51,300 people in Pakistan and some 1,300 in India.

"But it (Musharraf's proposals) can provide an opportunity by creating an atmosphere where we can provide assistance to the victims and surely, in that condition, better understanding (between India and Pakistan) is possible," Mukherjee said.

India remains wary of Musharraf's proposal for a "soft border" in Kashmir, where a 16-year-old insurgency has killed 44,000 people by the official count, and twice as many according to separatists.

Indian foreign ministry officials Friday said they were still waiting for Islamabad to give suggestions for practical implementation of the offer.

"So far we have not heard anything," an official said.

Peace talks between India and Pakistan led to the opening in April of a bus service linking the two sides of Kashmir, although the quake has destroyed part of the road and damaged a bridge linking the territories.

Delhi is also considering establishing another five crossing points along the de facto border. These would be at Poonch, Rajouri, Suchetgarh, Uri and Tangdhar, the Indian Express newspaper said Thursday, adding that a sixth crossing was possible at Kargil.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

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