NEW DELHI: The Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy, with several leading personalities from both countries as members, has called upon the Centre to lift the ban on non-governmental organisations from visiting earthquake-hit areas in Jammu and Kashmir.

The forum, which includes Mubashir Hassan, former finance minister of Pakistan, Nighat Syed Khan, a senior human rights and civil rights activist of Lahore, and Ashok Jaitley and Hindal Tyabji, former chief secretaries of Jammu and Kashmir, has also called for easier movement of relief workers across the Line of Control, considering that several areas under Pakistan's control were more easily accessible through India and vice versa.

The general secretary of the forum and human rights activist, Tapan K. Bose, said a founder member of the Forum and Planning Commission, Syeda Hameed would soon call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Bose, Mr. Hassan, Ms. Khan, Mr. Jaitley and Mr. Tyabji said there was a need for NGOs to be allowed to go to the affected areas and for relaxing the movements across the LoC since the quake victims were in dire need.

Mr. Bose and Dr. Hameed had visited Baramullah and parts of Uri and found that a large number of people were staying on the roadside with no proper shelter or warm clothing, even as the temperatures were going down to three to four degrees Celsius.

Large supplies of tarpaulins, heavy plastic and PVC sheets and blankets, sweaters and shawls were needed. There was an urgent need for doctors and medical supplies. The drugs required include paracetamol, dispirin, different types of antibiotics, anti-dysentry drugs, pain killers and dextrose and saline drugs.

The forum has set up a relief and rehabilitation fund, to which contributions could be sent. It was also in process of setting up an information centre in Delhi and logistic support centres in Srinagar and Lahore to coordinate the relief operations. The centres would operate in collaboration with State Government and district authorities.

It has also taken up a project to train local masons on how to rebuild houses and other buildings that were earthquake-resistant and used local material. For this, it has tied up with People's Science Institute of Dehradun, which has a rich experience of reconstructing buildings in Uttarkashi and Chamoli in Uttaranchal following the devastating earthquakes there in 1991 and 1999 respectively. A team of building experts led by Dunu Roy of PSI is leaving for Srinagar on Sunday for discussions with State Government authorities on modalities to be adopted.

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