Tremor should have been 'healing moment' for Kashmir: Benazir

Benazir criticised the response of President Pervez Musharraf's military regime to the October 8 disaster as too slow and claimed a civilian government would have been "more responsive" to people's needs.

"When the earthquake took place in ... a political faultline (Kashmir), the Indian government offered to help Pakistan but initially we refused the help," Benazir told BBC television.

"Now, when people are dying, you don't really look at who's offering the help. You take it. The first issue should be to help the people."

India and Pakistan agreed last month to open five border crossing points along the UN-designated Line of Control dividing Kashmir between the two countries.

The accord -- signed after the 7.6-magnitude quake that killed more than 73,000 people in northern Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir and left millions homeless -- also allowed aid convoys to access the region.

Benazir -- who governed Pakistan between 1988 and 1990 and again from 1993 to 1995 -- drew comparison with earthquakes in Turkey, when Greece was swift in offering help.

Stating that the Pakistan earthquake should have been a "healing moment" for Kashmir, she said of the developments on the border: "It was too little, too late".

"Not enough advantage was taken of the momentum for bringing people together that could have taken place."