India opens no-fly zone for relief operation
From Meerza Iqbal Baig

NEW DELHI—In yet another gesture of cross-border solidarity, India Saturday granted Pakistan permission to fly helicopters in the peacetime no-fly zone.
“We received a request from Pakistan Oct 13 to fly helicopters in the peacetime no-fly zone (one kilometre along the Line of Control). We are conveying our agreement today (Saturday) to this request, provided permission is taken on a case-by-case basis”, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said here.
He also clarified that India had received no request from Pakistan to cross over the LoC to have access for relief work as reported in a section of the media.
“We have seen a news report that India is delaying action on a request by Pakistan to cross over the LoC so as to have access for relief work. It is clarified that we have received no such request from Pakistan”, Sarna added.
India Friday sent a freight train to Pakistan with four wagons of relief supplies for the earthquake victims. The freight train reached Lahore Saturday. The relief carries 68 tonnes of material, including 5,200 blankets, 320 tents and four-and-a-half tonnes of plastic sheets. New Delhi also permitted NGOs to cross the border to help victims of the Oct 8 earthquake that killed over 38,000 people in Pakistan. On Monday an Indian Air Force aircraft flew 25 tonnes of relief supplies to Islamabad, marking the first Indian relief effort for Pakistan after the 1971 war.
Bus service delayed: “The trial run of the Amritsar-Lahore bus that was scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed. Fresh dates would be worked out,” said a statement posted on the ministry’s website. Technical-level talks that were scheduled to be held on October 25 and 26 for another bus linking Amritsar with Nankana Sahib in Pakistan were also postponed, it said. The delay comes as both countries grapple with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that struck on October 8 killing more than 25,000 people in Pakistan and over 1,300 in India. The agreement on the new bus service came at the end of September after two days of talks in the Indian capital. The 45-kilometre (28-mile) Lahore-Amritsar bus service will link the two countries via the only international land crossing at Wagah in the state of Punjab, which was divided between India and Pakistan at partition in 1947.