Pakistan, India reopen main Kashmir crossing

By Zeeshan Haider and Sheikh Mushtaq

FRIENDSHIP BRIDGE, Pakistan/India (Reuters) – Old rivals
Pakistan and India reopened the main border crossing in divided
Kashmir on Wednesday to help survivors of last month’s
earthquake that devastated the region.

The crossing between the Pakistani town of Chakothi and the
Indian town of Uri was one of five points along the Line of
Control the South Asian rivals agreed to open to facilitate aid
and allow divided families to meet.

No people crossed at Friendship Bridge on Wednesday, but
the two countries exchanged almost identical batches of relief
goods.

“The concept is to restore confidence,” said Pakistani
commander Lieutenant-Colonel Mohammad Chiragh Haider. “It is a
step toward the right direction. It is very necessary.”

The crossing was closed after the bridge, which spans a
stream at the frontier, was damaged by the October 8 quake. A
temporary wooden footbridge was used on Wednesday to carry
across supplies.

After civilian and military officials shook hands, Pakistan
sent over blankets, foodstuffs, tents and medicines while
porters brought over similar supplies from the Indian side.

“Sometimes it’s not the need necessarily; sometimes you
need that to restore confidence,” Haider said of the relief
supplies.

After decades of tension and two wars over Kashmir,
Pakistan and India agreed last month to reopen Friendship
Bridge and four new border points to allow aid and survivors of
the earthquake to cross. People were to be allowed across on
foot.

Pakistan says it is ready to open all five border points,
but India says that will take several more days and paperwork
means no people have yet traveled between the two sectors of
Kashmir.

A border crossing in southern Kashmir was opened on Monday.

On Tuesday, the United Nations, heading a big relief effort
after the disaster killed over 73,000 people in Pakistan and
1,300 in Indian Kashmir, said the crossings must be opened
rapidly to get aid to thousands of homeless survivors before a
bitter Himalayan winter sets in.

It said there was a desperate need for much wider access to
hundreds of thousands of people in remote valleys and a land
route for aid from India would save thousands of lives.

FRUSTRATION

Pakistan has expressed frustration at the delay on the
Indian side. On Monday, when the first point opened, Pakistani
police fired teargas to disperse angry Kashmiris prevented from
crossing the border by the lengthy bureaucratic process.

“We are ready for the crossing for the people but the
opposite side wants to carry out some modalities,” Haider said.

“The main aim of opening this crossing is to let the people
of both sides of Kashmir have contacts.”

Indian relief commissioner Bashir Ahmed Runial said
Kashmiris would be allowed to cross “whenever we get orders.”
“As far as the administration is concerned, we are ready.”

Pakistan says India has insisted on paperwork, including
lists of travelers and security checks, which takes about 10
days to process, delaying hoped-for family reunions until next
week at the earliest.

Pakistani and Indian forces used to exchange regular
artillery fire along the Line of Control until they agreed to a
ceasefire in late 2003. The truce has underpinned a hesitant
peace process that has included talks on Kashmir.

The Friendship Bridge crossing between Uri and Chakothi is
on the main road linking the capital of Pakistani Kashmir,
Muzaffarabad, to Srinagar, the biggest city in Indian Kashmir.
India and Pakistan started a bus service on the road in April,
reopening traffic across the frontier in Kashmir after over
half a century.

But both sides are nervous about too much contact. The
Pakistanis say they do not want the Indian military to see
their defences while India worries militants fighting its rule
in Kashmir might try to slip in.

Meanwhile, aid officials warn that with winter fast
approaching, time is running out on the worst hit Pakistani
side of the border and many thousands of survivors without
shelter could die. Funds are also running short.

The United Nations says it has received funds and solid
commitments worth only 15 percent of the total $550 million it
appealed for soon after the quake and all that was being used.

It has appealed to donor countries — the world’s richer
nations — to give another $42.4 million to fund the relief
operation to the end of this month.

U.N. emergency coordinator Rashid Khalikov told state-run
Pakistan Television the United Nations needed money for months
of operations but only had resources for about six to eight
weeks.

“We have a very vulnerable population in remote areas. It
is logistically very challenging to approach them. They are
dispersed in a large territory in two provinces. Winter is
setting in and it’s going to be very harsh,” he said.

“In order to continue what we are doing, we need money.
It’s a life saving operation … It is a little bit of a
problem that the international community doesn’t see these
images, they do not feel this suffering.”