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Pakistan, India reopen main Kashmir crossing

Posted on: Wednesday, 9 November 2005, 05:11 CST

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."

Source: REUTERS

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