Quake a chance to resolve Kashmir dispute: President
Seeks World support for quake reconstruction
By Our Special Correspondent

RAWALPINDI—President General Pervez Musharraf Wednesday said the solution to long-standing Jammu and Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India looks “more possible” in the wake of last month’s earthquake and expressed the hope that New Delhi would realize the opportunity.
“This opportunity should be utilized to reach a fair settlement of the dispute,” he told a Press Conference about Saturday’s a donors’ conference on Saturday where Pakistan will seek continued international support for its reconstruction efforts in Azad Kashmir and North Western Frontier Province following October 8’s deadly quake.
President Musharraf underlined that realization of efforts to find a lasting solution to Kashmir has to come from both sides.
“We cannot clap with one hand, I hope India realizes that the solution has become more possible now in the wake of the tragedy, in which Kashmir has suffered”.
He said Pakistan has a well-strategized plan for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of quake-ravaged areas and hoped that the world would come out with “expected level of support” at November 19 donors’ conference to implement it.
“We need continued financial assistance from the world community to implement the task, which is quite a big challenge for Pakistan,” he told.
“I am to unveil the plan that will package all the requirements and set out fairly accurate estimates of financial assistance needed for the most crucial phase of reconstruction in November 19, donors’ conference,” he informed Islamabad-based foreign correspondents.
For the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase, the President said, Pakistan had negligible pledges as yet and expected that the world assistance would match its outpouring for the Tsunami.
“The countries hit by Tsunami were easily accessible while we are confronted with a much more difficult task of reaching out to people in the difficult mountainous regions,” he pointed out.
He said it is the beauty of the internationalism that all countries come to aid when any member is hit by a natural calamity and said the people hit in October 8’s earthquake are poor while those hit by the Tsunami were better off economies.
President Musharraf expressed the hope that the international community would assist Pakistan in this hour of need as no country in the world alone could handle a disaster of such massive magnitude.
“No country sits totally prepared for such large-scale calamity,” he emphasized.
The President hoped that besides UN Secretary General Kofi Anan, the Conference would be well attended by the representatives of donor countries and International Financial Institutions (IFI).
He told the newsmen that the United Nations, ADB, the World Bank and the government have together reached a consensus
figure of around $5.1 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation. This includes $3.5 billion for reconstruction, $1.5 billion for sustaining the ongoing relief efforts throughout the next year and $100 million for rehabilitation.
President Musharraf said he would ask for financial assistance and sponsorship of construction of houses and infrastructure in the areas of Azad Kashmir and NWFP, decimated by last month’s quake. He hoped that the donors’ conference would help raise the required assistance, saying, many world leaders had spoken to them and their response was very positive.
While sounding hopeful about sustained international assistance, President Musharraf also cautioned that not everything should be expected in one day. “It is not that we will get everything in one day — we expect generous pledges and continued assistance over throughout the period of reconstruction,” he stated.
Replying to a question, the President said Pakistan would meet any reconstruction cost from its own sources but saw no reason for want of international generosity for the country. “If the Tsunami-hit countries are still receiving assistance and if the US also got assistance to deal with the Katrina hurricane why should Pakistan not get enough response in the hour of natural disaster,” he said. In response to another question the President said engagement of Pakistan Army troops in reconstruction efforts in the quake zone would in no way affect Pakistan Army’s operations against terrorists in the tribal areas.