ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: Chief Relief Commissioner Maj-Gen Farooq Khan has observed that India should not wait for a formal proposal from Pakistan on opening the Line of Control (LoC).
“Long parleys on modalities to open the LoC means the window is closing,” he told a press conference here on Friday.
He said that as chief relief commissioner he was concerned that India had not still allowed the divided families to get together and share their sorrow as time was running out.
He said that since the announcement of LoC opening, India had not allowed a single family to meet their relatives on the other side.
When an Indian journalist pointed out that the offer made by President Musharraf had been welcomed by New Delhi, he said: “Welcoming it is one aspect and putting it into practical shape is something else”.
He was of the view that the policy of waiting for a formal proposal was increasing the sufferings of the victims.
The relief commissioner told journalists that the death toll had risen to 51,300 while over 74,000 were inujured.
He reiterated the appeal for urgent supply of cold-proof tents each having a capacity of six persons and necessary medical equipment to help treat injured people.
The time, he said, was running short as the winter was going to start soon.
The commissioner said the NWFP and AJK governments had identified some places to set up tented villages to stop shifting affected people to other places.
He pointed out that the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and other donor agencies had expressed readiness to erect tented villages.
He told that a tented village for about 2,500 people would be completed very soon near Fateh Jhang while the chief commissioner Islamabad had been directed to accommodate the displaced persons coming from the quake affected areas.
Farooq Ahmed Khan said 21 field hospitals of friendly countries and donor agencies and six set up by Pakistan army were working round the clock.
