They say that death is a great equaliser, at least the enormity of the destruction has stunned the two great antagonists into trying to dovetail the relief and rehabilitation effort into one common melting pot of cooperation in ameliorating the lot of the wretched and the dead. Compared to India, the casualties and damage was far more on the Pakistani side of Kashmir, it extended to the adjacent districts of NWFP. In the first flush of the tragedy, the sincere offer for assistance from India was very welcome. It did not take long for political overtones to creep in, viz the offer of helicopters for heavy airlift of relief and evacuation of casualties became a sensitive issue. For a number of reasons this was rather improbable, not the least being that while India was making the offer for its military aviation crews to operate in the affected areas of Azad Kashmir, it only reluctantly allowed relief agencies from within India, what to talk of permitting international agencies, to provide succour to those affected on their side of the LOC. Even on their side of the LOC inaccessible places had yet to be reached. Other than security concerns, the subject of Indian helicopters operating in Azad Kashmir is a politically sensitive issue, and some extremists could have reacted adversely to it. Suppose an Indian helicopter had been brought down by some idiot, the world's attention would have turned from relief and rehabilitation to focus on terrorism. Would Pakistan be able to take such a risk at this time?

Some armchair strategists without any knowledge of the terrain or conditions obtaining in the upper reaches of Kashmir or NWFP have even suggested that Indian troops should have been allowed to cross the LOC to reach inaccessible heights. Most communications in these areas are North to South, the East-West axis (crossing the LOC) is still blocked at many places. What is being suggested borders on the ridiculous. It would involve first the concentration of supplies in Srinagar, then taken to forward dumps, and then after clearing of roads and bridges, to reach at best Rawalakot-Bagh area. As a contiguous part of Punjab, pre-partition, all the main communication links flow through Sialkot, Jehlum, Rawalpindi, and Abbottabad. The only existing road to Srinagar for India proper is through Akhnoor. Even knowledgeable circles will find it difficult to understand the limitations imposed by geography, it is both tragic and disappointing to hear people who should know better to play with the emotions of the people by regaling them with false premises. Despite lack of knowledge people tend to espouse absurd theories and propositions with great confidence. In some cases where there is good knowledge, one must question the motivation.

Why not let the people on both sides of the LOC mingle with each other and thus alleviate both their physical and emotional suffering, accentuated by the devastating earthquake? Musharraf has called for the LOC to become irrelevant and people on both sides to cross freely, an expansion on his offer for people from Indian-held Kashmir coming across to help in the rehabilitation and reconstruction. Maybe this initiative can be expanded into permanence, free movement could also facilitate trade. Since many areas of the Occupied Territory are easily accessible to the Pakistan side rather than the lone tenuous link through Jammu with India, this would also be logistically feasible. As for the LOC becoming irrelevant, this can only happen if troops on both sides pull back and concentrate on peacetime locations. In many discussions with Indians of all ilk, official and private citizens, poor, middle class, or affluent, no on has ever come close to ceding even one inch of territory, to expect India will abandon its hold on Kashmir is being over-optimistic. Despite this, many of the same Indians were perturbed about the state of affairs within Kashmir as well as the head to head confrontation with Pakistan. As such, even if one cannot come to a solution on Kashmir one can come to an arrangement. The first move on this arrangement was the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and vice-versa bus service. The heavens did not fall when the service started, and it operated till the earthquake made the roads impassable.

The earthquake has overtaken events and provided India and Pakistan both with an opportunity and a challenge. With good faith and goodwill, this initiative of free crossings can become a permanent feature as can two-way trade. If the earthquake can put a hiatus on the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between the Armed Forces, why continue with this confrontation in the future? Of special interest to Pakistanis will be relief mobilised by the peoples of South Asia rather than what has been promised by the government. Indian industrialists and businessmen have been quite aggressive about the advantages of trade between the two countries. They will be of notice, whether their motivation is out of real friendship for the people of the region or their only objective is exploitation out of crass commercial interests. The president of the Federation of the Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Chaudhry Mohd Saeed, sent me as a special emissary to the FPCCI counterpart organisations, FBCCI in Bangladesh and FICCI, CII, and ASSOCHAM in India, to apprise them personally about the death and destruction caused by the massive earthquake and request mobilisation of relief effort in the private sector. While the immediate response ranged from very good to excellent, future trade initiatives will have to be measured with their response, or otherwise. Some individuals have been very forthcoming spontaneously, Narayan Murthy of Infosys donated Rs. 10 million, the jury is still waiting to give their verdict on others.

In the absence of a solution we need an arrangement over Kashmir, one that will keep intact each other's legal reservations but will facilitate the Kashmiri people to mingle with each other as is their God-given right. The earthquake has forced the issue, are the two governments up to it? Neil Armstrong took one small step on the moon and called it a giant step for mankind, Musharraf's offer may become a first step in bringing joy and happiness to the Kashmiri people, for them mixing with each other freely will be like walking on the moon. Other than the leaders of the two countries, can the people seize this moment, this fleeting moment of opportunity derived from dire adversity?

Ikram Sehgal, a former Major of Pakistan Army, is a political analyst and columnist.