Lifesaving diplomacy

THE EARTHQUAKE THAT STRUCK Pakistan on Oct. 8 continues to exact a staggering toll. An estimated 80,000 people were killed, nearly all in Pakistan; perhaps 1,400 died in India. As many as 3 million are homeless. More than two weeks later, many victims still have not been reached in the Himalayan foothills.

Yet aid groups are struggling with “disaster fatigue” as donors are overwhelmed with pleas for assistance in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, not to mention December’s Asian tsunami. Better cooperation between India and Pakistan could help ease the suffering.

The two nations have so far been unable to let the natural disaster trump more than half a century of enmity. While homeless men and women scramble for blankets, water and food under drenching rain and the expected advent of snow, Islamabad and New Delhi play diplomatic one-upmanship.

India on Saturday proposed setting up three camps on its side of the border with Pakistan in Kashmir, a state divided between the two countries. Pakistan countered that five camps were needed. India said Monday that some infrastructure was needed and would wait for Pakistan’s new counterproposal. Meanwhile, earthquake victims die.

Soon after the quake, India offered helicopters, which are desperately needed for search and rescue, as well as food, clothes and tents. Pakistan offered to take the helicopters but barred Indian crews. Pakistan should ask for the helicopters again and offer to let them fly with mixed crews.

The Pakistani army, which has run the country for more than half its independent existence, has long proclaimed its competence and efficiency. But those claims died along with the quake’s victims.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, the general who seized power in a coup six years ago, has repeatedly claimed that the camps in which Kashmiri terrorists are trained have been shut. Yet many earthquake survivors say that it is those guerrillas who are providing medical treatment and digging graves. If the terrorists really cared about Kashmiris, rather than crossing the border to kill Indians, they would stay in Pakistan and help remove rubble and rebuild villages, a task that will take years.

The United Nations should keep pleading for assistance. It is seeking $312 million in aid, but far less has been pledged so far, let alone actually handed over, and some nations could do far more. (Turkey, a poor nation, pledged $150 million; Saudi Arabia, a rich nation made still wealthier by the run-up in oil prices, raised about $40 million in a weekend telethon. The U.S. pledged $50 million and has delivered hundreds of tons of food and supplies to Pakistan.)

But Pakistan itself must realize that a string of natural disasters this year has wearied donors, if not impoverished them. It’s time for the military to live up to its claims of competence and time for the government to take all assistance offered -- including from India.