Kashmir politicians call for border opening

Pakistani Kashimiris sit in a makeshift tent village in Balakot, in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province yesterday. The 7.6-magnitude quake which struck Pakistan-controlled Kashmir on October 8 killed nearly 40,000 people and has left some 3.3 million homeless. PHOTO: AFP

"We urge India and Pakistan to throw open the Line of Control so that we can take relief to our affected brethren in the other part of Kashmir," said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Indian Kashmir's top moderate separatist.

"The issue should be viewed as a humanitarian one," he said.

More than 1,300 people were killed on the Indian side and tens of thousands of homes were destroyed. In neighbouring Pakistan, where the 7.6-magnitute earthquake was cantered, at least 38,000 people were killed and more than two million made homeless.

On Tuesday Indian Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed urged the federal government to allow direct shipments of earthquake aid collected by local charities to the Pakistani-zone of the state.