Pakistan and India plan opening of disputed Kashmir border for

Pakistan and India plan opening of disputed Kashmir border for quake victims

Munir Ahmad Associated Press/Muzaffarabad, Pakistan

Pakistan and India were making plans on Sunday to let earthquake victims cross the disputed Kashmir border, bringing the nuclear- armed rivals closer in the wake of a shared tragedy that killed nearly 80,000 people on both sides of the heavily militarized frontier.

Meanwhile, Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, toured the destruction in Pakistan's half of the divided Himalayan region and promised to "do whatever is possible to help Pakistan." He said 15 more U.S. helicopters and more troops would be arriving soon to support the relief effort.

"From the air I saw devastation everywhere. Naturally, I'm sad but we will do as much as we can," he told reporters in the main city of Muzaffarabad. The U.S. military has already deployed 17 helicopters and is also sending the Army's only Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or MASH unit.

The magnitude 7.6 Oct. 8 quake is believed to have killed at least 79,000 people, mostly in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir. About 1,360 died on the Indian side. More than 3 million are homeless.

Pakistan proposed creating five border crossing points on Saturday for Kashmiris to freely carry relief goods to either side. India earlier offered to open aid camps for quake victims on its side of Kashmir -- a region claimed in its entirety by both countries and where they have fought two of their three wars.

"It appears to us that the proposals made by Pakistan can be reconciled with those that we ourselves had already made," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in a statement in New Delhi.

Any agreement to let Kashmiris cross the frontier -- long regarded as one of world's most dangerous flashpoints -- would be a clear sign of mounting trust between the longtime rivals who began a peace process nearly two years ago to bury five decades of hostility.

India's proposal came in apparent response to Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's repeated calls for Kashmiris to be allowed to cross the so-called Line of Control to help each other recover from the disaster.

Another earthquake on Sunday destroyed homes and killed five people in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province near the Pakistan border, said Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi. Army rescue teams were heading for the remote mountainous area, he said.

Pakistan's Seismological Center said two quakes, the biggest of magnitude 5.2, were registered near the border early on Sunday.

Relief operations in Pakistan have taken on increasing urgency, with the Himalayan winter closing in. The United Nations on Sunday renewed a call for more relief funds from donor countries.

"The lives of thousands are at risk and they urgently need our help," said Rashid Kalikov, UN coordinator for humanitarian assistance in Muzaffarabad.

He said 800,000 people in Kashmir had no shelter.

India has provided tons of relief goods for Pakistan, but opening the border is particularly sensitive for New Delhi, which has fenced and fortified the Line of Control to prevent infiltration by Islamic militants who fight Indian security forces, seeking Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan.