‘Quake tragedy to spur Indo-Pak peace’

"It will certainly help in furthering the peace process," former Indian foreign secretary and ambassador to Washington Lalit Mansingh told AFP.

Joint relief efforts could boost confidence, Mansingh said, noting that Indian and Pakistani civilians as well as the troops that face off across the Kashmiri border had lost their lives in Saturday morning's massive quake.

"This is a common tragedy. There is nothing political about this. It can help bring people together," Mansingh added.

The nuclear-armed rivals are engaged in a peace process that has seen two major rounds of talks since January 2004 focused on divided Kashmir -- the trigger for two of their three wars since 1947.