Proposal to open LoC at 5 points given to India: PM
Delhi says LoC can’t be opened for ‘anybody & everybody
By Uzma Zafar

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan has handed over specific proposals to India for allowing Kashmiris living on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) to help each other in relief and reconstruction efforts, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Saturday said.
“We have identified five points for two-way movement of Kashmiris across the LoC,” he told reporters here.
President General Pervez Musharraf had made the proposal on October 18 in Muzaffarabad.
Prime Minister Aziz said through these points relief goods from Pakistan could also go to the Indian Occupied Kashmir and, similarly, relief goods from there could come to Azad Kashmir.
The October 8 earthquake killed over 51,000 people in AJK and NWFP and also caused fatalities in the Indian Held Kashmir.
The Prime Minister hoped that Indian government would consider these proposals.
Responding to a question, the Prime Minister welcomed a proposal by the members of the Kashmir Committee to send relief goods to the Indian Occupied Kashmir.
The government would help them in this regard and would also ask the Indian government to facilitate in sending relief goods from here to the Occupied Kashmir, he added.
Agencies add: Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee says Pakistan’s suggestion to open the Line of Control (LoC) could not be done for “anybody and everybody” but places could be identified from where relief material for earthquake victims could transit freely.
“If it (Islamabad’s proposal) covers those carrying relief material, they can go without obstacles ... Places could be identified for them. But it (LoC) cannot be opened for anybody and everybody,” he told BBC’s ‘Asia Today’ programme here.
Observing it was imperative that India and Pakistan should leave the past behind and move forward, he said the massive quake could not “reverse” the process of the last 50 years but could certainly create an atmosphere where India could provide assistance to the victims across the LoC. “Earthquake cannot alter the history of last 50 years and I am putting it very candidly. But it can provide an opportunity by creating an atmosphere where we can provide assistance to the victims and surely, in that condition, better understanding (between India and Pakistan) is possible,” Mukherjee said.
India Saturday said it would open three composite relief and rehabilitation points along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir where quake-affected people from the Pakistani side could come for medical treatment and to meet their relatives.
“The government has decided to set up composite relief and rehabilitation points at three places to provide facilities for medical assistance and relief for people from across the Line of Control,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna announced here. The posts will be opened at Aman Setu in Uri, Tithwal in Tangdhar and Chakandabagh in Poonch, Sarna added. “Indian nationals will also be able to come to these points for meeting their relatives from across the LoC,” Sarna said.
“This has been conveyed to Islamabad. We are waiting for Pakistan’s response before setting up the centres. If Pakistan agrees, the centres will become operational by Oct 25,” the spokesman added. The announcement follows Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s dramatic announcement in Muzaffarabad Tuesday about opening up the LoC to humanitarian relief from India, but the declaration was not followed up with an official proposal.