India, Pakistan trade aid at Kashmir border

Indian porters unload and transfer to Pakistani porters relief goods brought on trucks by Indian relief agencies to help Pakistani victims of the October 8 earthquake yesterday following the opening of the Line of Control at Titrinote. Pakistan and India opened their frontier in divided Kashmir for earthquake relief, raising hopes for progress towards resolving their corrosive dispute over the territory.. PHOTO: AFP

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.

Reuters 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.

The Line of Control has divided Kashmir since the neighbours fought their first war over the Muslim-majority Himalayan region shortly after independence from Britain in 1947.

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.

"This is a historical event. There have been physical and mental barriers for 60 years. Now the mental barriers are crumbling," said B.R. Sharma, a commissioner in Jammu, speaking before the protest.

The two sides had agreed to open five points on the heavily militarised 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 on Monday.

Pakistani officials said only relief goods would be crossing the line on Monday 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.

He was one of several hundred people, many from divided families, watching the border opening.

"We don't need sugar, flour or rice or anything else. We just want to see our dear ones," he said.

While the Pakistani side suffered heavier quake damage than the Indian side, the area where the border was opened is on the southern edge of the disaster zone.