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Pakistan And Kashmiri Group Sending Relief And Blood For Quake Victims
ISLAMABAD, Jan 29 (News Agencies) - Pakistan said Monday it would send relief to India for earthquake victims following Indian acceptance of its offer, which had first been declined, officials said. In addition, a Kashmiri separatist group said its cadres had started donating blood for the victims of the earthquake in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
The Pakistani relief consignment, including blankets and tents, was expected to be flown to India on Tuesday.
Earlier, Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf had said India had turned down Islamabad's offer of relief.
"I did offer help but their response was a little unfortunate. They said they have plenty at home. They thanked us," he told reporters after inaugurating a state-owned mobile phone service here.
Later, Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, speaking on state-run television, said Pakistan would send relief goods to India.
The government "hopes to be able to send these relief goods by early tomorrow [Tuesday] morning," he said.
"The terrible earthquake, which also hit some parts of Pakistan as well, is a big human tragedy and people of Pakistan do feel the terrible tragedy like all human beings.
"Feeling the heavy loss of human lives and extensive damage the people and government of Pakistan want to extend help," Sattar said.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajapyee said Monday that New Delhi would welcome assistance from any country, including its perennial regional rival.
Asked during a press conference in Hyderabad whether New Delhi would accept aid for quake victims from Islamabad, Vajpayee said: "Yes, we'll accept aid from anywhere."
Friday's earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, killed an estimated 20,000 people and caused widespread destruction in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
Officials here said earlier the Indian government, after declining offers of blankets, tents and medicines, had requested sniffer dogs and specialist equipment to detect signs of life under the rubble.
"Prompt arrangements" were made for the dispatch of sniffer dogs on Sunday and a special aircraft remained on the tarmac for more than six hours to fly the dogs to Ahmedabad. However, late Sunday, New Delhi had informed Islamabad that their help was no longer required, they said.
Mutual mistrust continues to mar relations between the two countries who have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan state of Kashmir.
In Kashmir however, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Kashmir's main pro-independence group, said it would be sending 100 pints (47 liters) of blood to the state soon.
"At this hour of crisis we are with the people of Gujarat," JKLF chairman Yasin Malik said.
The group was not in a position to distribute monetary relief among the quake victims "as it is shouldering the burden of thousands of orphans and widows, created by the decade long separatist-struggle," Malik said.
The conflict against Indian rule in Kashmir has claimed more than 34,000 lives since 1989.
 Eight-month-old Murtza Ali recuperates in a hospital in Bhuj Monday. Murtza was found when members of the Indian Border Security Force in Bhuj were working to remove the body of a dead woman, and discovered Murtza laying in his mothers lap. Murtza Ali spent some 96 hours trapped there covered in his mother's blood. Relatives were found nearby, and Murtza is expected to survive.
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