Quake survivors queue for food

Earthquake survivors wait in line for cooked rice from a Pakistani aid organisation in Muzaffarabad. Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

The line dividing Kashmir remained closed today despite dramatic offers by Pakistan and India to allow help for thousands of earthquake victims to flow across their war-scarred, disputed border.

South Asia's old rivals needed time to carry out their plan, underlining the political sensitivity of such a move and the logistical difficulties in a mountainous area where the death toll from the October 8 quake has risen to nearly 50,000.

But they were quick to restore telephone links between the two Kashmirs, India opening lines blocked 16 years ago after the eruption of a rebellion New Delhi accuses Pakistan of backing.

- REUTERS