Pakistani police fired teargas and shots into the air yesterday to disperse hundreds of villagers trying to approach a border crossing with India in Kashmir after it was opened to help earthquake relief efforts.
Villagers shouted "Let people cross," and "What we want is freedom" as they approached the Line of Control, the de facto border that separates Pakistani and Indian Kashmir.
"We want an independent Kashmir. We don't respect this border," said one of the protesters, Azhar Mushtaq.
Reporters did not see anyone with injuries. Some Kashmiri separatists, who want to see a united Kashmir independent of both Pakistan and India, have objected to the opening, saying it would lead to the line becoming a formal border, and the permanent division of Kashmir.
Shortly before the protest, Indian and Pakistani military officials opened the disputed border in a largely symbolic gesture to help survivors of the Oct. 8 earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and about 1,300 in India.
Military officials from the two sides shook hands across the line and an orange Indian truck carrying relief goods backed up to it while a Pakistani truck drove up in reverse from its side. Men then began unloading sacks from the Indian truck into the Pakistani one.
The two sides had agreed to open five points on the heavily militarized Line of Control dividing Kashmir, the region worst hit by an Oct. 8 earthquake.
But on Saturday, India said only one of the five, in its Poonch district which was lightly touched by the quake, would open yesterday.
Pakistani officials said only relief goods would be crossing the line yesterday as paperwork had delayed hoped-for reunions of divided families.
Opening the Line of Control is not expected to make a big difference to relief efforts. With the Pakistani side accessible by road, villagers said they didn't need aid from India. They just wanted to see relatives on the other side.
"We want the Pakistan and Indian governments to ease restrictions to let people meet," Pakistani villager Sardar Abdul Hafiz said shortly before the protest. "We don't need sugar, flour or rice or anything else. We just want to see our dear ones."
The Indian army said a relief camp at the newly opened border point, at Chakan da Bagh opposite Titrinote, was ready to host 100 people and a helipad had been restored to evacuate any emergency patients.
However, because Titrinote is accessible by road it is unlikely any patients are still awaiting medical help or emergency aid.
But aid officials warn that with winter fast approaching, time is running out for up to 3 million people left homeless by the quake in Pakistan, some of whom remain without help high in the mountains while temperatures tumble.
Aid workers say opening a border crossing into Pakistan's hard-hit Neelum valley, about 80km to the north, would be most significant in terms of aid as that area is still cut off by landslides.
Observers said the opening was more of a symbolic move that fell short of a major breakthrough. Aid only crossed between Chakan da Bagh and Titrinote yesterday because permits for civilians were not ready.
RSS