Free Republic

Srinagar, October 10: In the wake of the killer quake, the Jehad Council, an amalgam of 14 militant outfits based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, has announced temporary suspension of its operations in the ravaged areas of Jammu and Kashmir. The decision to suspend temporarily the operations in the state was taken at a meeting convened by the chairman of Council and supreme commander of Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Salahuddin at Muzaffarabad on Sunday, a local news agency quoting a fax from the organisation said on Monday. Salahuddin asked all the constituents of the council to direct the militant cadres across the...

NEW DELHI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Pakistan is unlikely to take up India on its offer to help tens of thousands of people hit by the massive weekend earthquake despite a new warmth in ties, officials and analysts say. The hitch is Kashmir, the divided Himalayan territory claimed in full by the neighbours and now the scene of devastation after an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude. Accepting Indian help would mean giving Indian troops -- experts in disaster relief -- access to Pakistani Kashmir, the area worst affected by Saturday's earthquake. That would be a public relations disaster for Islamabad as...