'India, Pakistan put politics before relief’

India's tepid response to the tragedy has also reinforced a sense of alienation among many ordinary Kashmiris living on its side of the divided Himalayan territory, said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

"We thought both countries should have risen beyond politics, but the only thing we see is them involved in scoring brownie points off each other," said the 34-year-old, who is also the religious leader of Sunni Muslims in Kashmir.

"It was an opportunity for India and Pakistan to really bridge the gap, to come closer to each other at this hour of crisis," he told Reuters in an interview.

"But I feel it has widened the gap."

Tens of thousands of Kashmiris died in last weekend's earthquake, most on the Pakistani side of the heavily militarised frontline. Many more are still sleeping out in the open, and fears for them are rising as temperatures drop.

India has tried to score a propaganda victory by proposing relief operations across the frontline -- an offer Pakistan spurned -- and by sending aid to Islamabad, Kashmiris say.

But it has not allowed Kashmiris on its side of the frontline to telephone the other side to find out about relatives there.

The neighbours even got involved in a row on Thursday about whether Indian soldiers had crossed the frontline to help their Pakistani counterparts rebuild a bunker.

"Repeatedly we had asked the Indian government to at least open telephone links between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, but that has fallen on deaf ears," Farooq said. "This only adds to the agony."