MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 31: Political leaders and common man in Azad Kashmir gave a mixed response to an agreement between Pakistan and India to open the Line of Control to enable people on the two sides of the LoC to receive relief or meet their relatives under the accord, families and relief items will be allowed across five points — Nauseri-Teethwal, Chakothi-Uri, Hajipur-Uri, Rawalakot-Poonch and Tatta Pani-Mendhar — from Nov 7.

“We welcome this decision. But let me place it on record that we have never accepted the so-called Line of Control,” said AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat.

He stressed that the permission to the Kashmiris to cross the LoC should not be a temporary or restricted measure. “It should be on a permanent basis because the Kashmiris have the right to move across this forced dividing line under United Nations resolutions,” he said.

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Amanullah Khan, however, expressed apprehending that deserving Kashmiris would not benefit from the decision as claimed by its advocates because there were a number of practical and technical hitches.

“To wait for at least 10 days for official approval for crossing and to receive or send goods through officials would ??? the very purpose of providing quick and sufficient relief to people affected by the earthquake,” Mr Khan said.

In addition to some practical hitches, he said, there were some important and harmful aspects of the agreement.

The JKLF chief said that the accord would prove to be another effective step towards turning the LoC into permanent Indo-Pakistan border, thereby immensely to Kashmiris’ struggle for national emancipation.

Noted Kashmiri journalist Yusuf Jameel said it was yet to be seen if it really worked to the benefit of the hapless people living on either side of the de divide.

“We’ve suffered a lot all these years and need much more to be offered by the two South Asian neighbours than merely allowing crossings at a few places, and that too after fulfilling certain formalities and after placing certain restrictions,” he told Dawn by telephone from Srinagar.

Habibullah Butt, who migrated here from the Indian held-Kashmir in 1990, welcomed the agreement but expressed scepticism about transparency of the process of issuing permits to the genuine travellers.

He had been making desperate attempts to ride the trans-LoC bus to see his relatives on the other side, but could not succeed due to what he believed “uncalled for procedural complications”.

“If they are going to adopt a similar procedure then I am afraid this will prove nothing but another cosmetic step,” he said.

Mr Butt was trapped in the debris of his rented house along with his wife and two-year-old daughter. The family was rescued from the rubble with multiple wounds. “My family on the other side is deeply worried about our wellbeing and desperate to see us,” he said.