Saturday, November 12 2005 15:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Teetwal (LoC) : India and Pakistan today (Nov 12, 2005) opened the third joint relief point along the Line of Control (LoC) in this earthquake devastated area of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Teetwal-Nauseri relief point, which was earlier scheduled to be opened on November 7 and November 10, was postponed twice in the absence of the foot bridge connecting the two villages on either side of the divide in Kashmir.

Army and civil authorities from the two sides met at 1130 hrs and held a brief meeting over the mechanism for transfer of relief.

Although carting of relief material began at the appointed time, it was not clear whether any human movement would be allowed across the LoC.

India and Pakistan have cleared names of 12 persons, who were scheduled to make the trip to PoK aboard Caravan-e-Aman, the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad.

The bus service had been suspended indefinitely in view of the damage caused to the road on the PoK side and breakdown of one pier of Aman Setu due to the Oct 8 earthquake.

The relief material was carried by porters on foot across the temporary bridge to the other side.

Delay in construction of the bailey bridge, which was set up by Pakistani authorities on the Kishanganga river, has also postponed the opening of the relief point as the two sides were undecided about who should establish the causeway.

People from either side of Kishanganga river in Teetwal and Nauseri villages had assembled along the banks just to have a glimpse of each other.

India and Pakistan had on Oct 29 agreed to open five points along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir to allow exchange of relief material across for the quake-affected people.

The five points, Poonch-Rawalakot, Kaman Post-Chakoti, Teetwal-Nauseri, Tattapani and Gharkote, were scheduled to open on Nov 7 but only the point at Poonch was opened on the said date.

On Nov 9, Kaman Post-Chakoti was opened while Tattapani and Gharkote points are scheduled to open on Nov 14 and 16.