South Asia Quake: Earthquake unites two rivals, for now

Residents of the northern Pakistani town of Muzzafarabad, one of the towns hit by Saturday's earthquake, try to collect oranges given as aid by charities yesterday. A senior army official who is close to the rescue operations said that ``according to our assessment, the death toll is between 35,000 to 40,000 people.'' PHOTO: AP

As a powerful earthquake struck on Saturday at the epicenter of one of the world's most stubborn border conflicts, questions emerged about the degree to which it would jolt India and Pakistan into a lasting reconciliation.

The 7.6-magnitude quake sent tremors across much of South Asia and punched through the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. On Monday, in a gesture of neighborly solidarity remarkable only because of the two countries involved, Pakistan said it would accept an Indian offer of relief.

India it would send those items that Pakistan has said it needs: tents, blankets, plastic sheets, food and medicines. India also offered helicopters to assist with rescue efforts -- something that Pakistan has said it badly needs -- but on this, Pakistan demurred. There was also no suggestion from Pakistan that it would accept joint military rescue operations.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Tasneem Aslam, stressed late on Monday evening that neither Indian troops nor helicopters would be involved in the relief operation.

"We have received assistance from many countries, and many rescue teams are working here," she said in a telephone interview. "We are not expecting any more rescue teams, as our requirement right now is the movement and transfer of relief supplies."

India Pakistan, torn apart at independence from British rule in 1947 and both nuclear powers today, have fought three wars since then, two over Kashmir, which they both claim. An anti-Indian insurgency has been under way on the Indian side of Kashmir since 1989; New Delhi accuses Islamabad of fueling it, a charge Pakistan denies.

"Pakistan's acceptance of aid from India reflects a major policy departure in India-Pak relations," Amitabh Mattoo, a native of Kashmir vice-chancellor at Jammu University on the Indian-controlled side, said late Monday. "It augurs well for the peace process. It is not a temporary act of one-upmanship. I think it will lead to a lasting process."

The disaster presents both countries with a critical test of credibility among their Kashmiri citizens.

The two countries, since stepping away from the brink of war in 2002, have been engaged in snail's-pace peace talks whose goal is to build confidence between the sides and ultimately to resolve the question of what to do with Kashmir.

Trade tourism has inched up in recent years. Transportation links have been extended, including a bus service launched to great fanfare last April, allowing people to travel between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad for the first time in a half-century. The service was indefinitely postponed on Monday because of quake damage, the state-run Press Trust of India reported.

The two have promised measures designed to temper the chance of conflict, namely agreeing to warn each other before nuclear tests and setting up a hot line between their foreign ministers. The nuclear test promise has not been kept; the hot line was used after the earthquake.

A neutral expert has been called in to negotiate a dispute over the construction of a dam across a river that crosses from India into Pakistan. Talks about troop pullout from the disputed territory, Siachen Glacier, looked close to completion recently, only to become bogged down in details.

India said it will agree to a troop reduction in Kashmir only if militant violence diminishes. India has repeatedly said it will not entertain the notion of giving up what it considers to be its territory.

The Indian foreign secretary, Shyam Saran, said on Monday evening that India had also offered to send relief, perhaps by foot, across the Line of Control, or LOC, as it is known here, to villages difficult for Pakistani authorities to reach. Pakistan has not agreed to the proposal.