Kashmir 'Line Of Control' Open

India and Pakistan on Saturday opened their disputed frontier in earthquake-devastated Kashmir, allowing people on both sides to cross over on foot for the first time in 58 years to meet separated relatives.

The opening follows a declaration by Pakistan's president who said the earthquake provided "an opportunity of a lifetime" to resolve the half-century dispute with India over divided Kashmir.

Begum Jaan, 82, was the first one to cross over to the Pakistani side from the Indian-held portion of Kashmir. She was greeted by Pakistani army officers.

The opening of the frontier is a landmark event in relations between the two nuclear-armed rival neighbor countries, who have fought three wars since 1947, two of them over control of the Himalayan territory of Kashmir.

Kashmir is divided between the two, but claimed in entirety by both.

Pakistan Saturday said quake aid pledges have surpassed the $5.4 billion target.

Earlier, the Asian Development Bank pledged to provide about $1 billion to Pakistan for earthquake relief. It was not immediately clear how much of that money was included in the government's figure for total pledges.

The pledge came a day after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the 50-nation donors' conference to launch an "unprecedented response" to South Asia's massive earthquake. The United States Saturday upped its aid package to $510 million.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said the calamity provided an "an opportunity of a lifetime" for Pakistan and archrival India to improve relations and resolve their dispute over Kashmir.

"If leaders fail to grasp fleeting opportunities, they fail their nations and peoples," Musharraf told the conference. "Let success and happiness emerge from the ruins of this catastrophe, especially for the people of Kashmir. Let this be the Indian donation to Kashmir."

The South Asian rivals have fought two wars over Kashmir, which is divided between them but claimed in its entirety by both. Since the quake, they have agreed to open five crossing points on the militarized frontier to facilitate the flow of relief and let separated families reunite, but civilian crossings have been delayed by bureaucratic wrangling and Indian fears that Islamic militants might infiltrate from Pakistan.

Pakistan's government is seeking more than $5 billion to rebuild the ravaged north, where entire towns were flattened and some 86,000 people died. Another 1,350 died in Indian territory. The government says about $.2.4 billion has been pledged, but less than 10 percent has been given.

India has also offered $25 million in aid, and Musharraf said it would receive corrugated metal sheets for rebuilding homes from the neighboring country.

The United Nations, facing its own shortfall of quake donations, warned that relief efforts could collapse without sustained funding.

"The earthquake of Oct. 8 was an unprecedented disaster. It requires us to mount an unprecedented response," Annan told representatives from about 50 countries, including India, about half of them ministers and deputy ministers.

"There are urgent humanitarian needs that demand our continuing attention. The difficult terrain makes this one of the most challenging relief operations ever undertaken," he said.

"We are now in a race against time," Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said. "While the first wave of injuries and trauma have been taken care of, we recognize that the emergency relief assistance must continue for a period longer than expected."

About three million people lost their homes in the quake, with hundreds of thousands still living in flimsy tents and an unknown number with no shelter at all. Aid workers say that with snow already falling in the quake zone and a harsh Himalayan winter forecast, time is fast running out to prevent a second wave of deaths from exposure, hunger and disease.

On Friday, Annan toured the quake zone and chided nations for a "weak and tardy" response to the quake, and seemed to lower expectations for the conference, saying if enough money wasn't raised he would try for additional funding later.

U.N. agencies have received cash donations of only $119 million, with another $40 million in pledges, out of $550 million it has been seeking since last month to finance emergency relief over six months.

Among the most pressing needs are warmer shelters to guard against nighttime temperatures that can drop to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Infants and children, more than 2.2 million of whom were affected by the quake, are most at risk.

In Geneva on Friday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that relief efforts will "collapse like a house of cards" should the aid flow stop, but that enough money is arriving to keep the operation functioning.

"The organizations are working from one day to the next; they're living hand-to-mouth," spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters. She added that U.N. agencies needed an average $50 million per month if they wanted to "continue saving lives."

Aziz, the prime minister, said Pakistan could not finance the massive cost of reconstruction and rehabilitation on its own "without putting a major dent in our development plans." He also urged developed nations to grant favorable market access for Pakistani products.

He said $1.7 billion was needed for relief and recovery and restoration of livelihoods, and $3.5 billion for rebuilding infrastructure and restoring the economy.