A large crowd of villagers had gathered to watch a ceremony in which Indian and Pakistani troops formally opened the de facto frontier that divides Kashmir to allow earthquake relief goods to cross between the two sides.

The crowd grew restless as it became clear only relief goods and not people would be allowed to cross the frontier, and many started chanting slogans demanding freedom for Kashmiris.

As volleys of gunfire rang out, the crowd retreated some 200 metres.

Earlier, two men and two children who tried to run across the LoC were tackled by police and bundled into a van.

Nazar Kat, a member of the crowd not involved in the protest, said they had come from Titrinote, the main town near the crossing, as well as nearby mountain villages and were angry that they could not see relatives on the other side.

"They are shouting because they want a free Kashmir. They want all parts of the region to be independent, including Azad (Pakistani) Kashmir and Indian-occupied Kashmir," Kat told AFP.

"It is an injustice that we are not allowed to cross the LoC ourselves," sad Itifaq Khaliq, a 25-year-old student and one of the protesters.

"These people are unable to understand what is going on, it is all happening behind the curtain, it is backdoor diplomacy between India and Pakistan."

Police carrying Kalashnikov rifles and batons maintained a heavy presence even after the situation had apparently calmed down.

Local leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, which wants an independent state, later gave speeches to the crowd and urged them to stay where they were until the Indian and Pakistan authorities allowed them to cross the frontier.

"The generals of Pakistan are stealing the things that belong to Kashmir. They are making their palace from the wealth of Kashmir," JKLF leader Zulfiqar Naqvi told the crowed.

A local JKLF leader, Ansar Ahmed, called for Kashmiri to be allowed through the crossing immediately to help family members on the other side who were hit by the quake.

"These people are victims of India, Pakistan and now the earthquake," he said.

The October 8 quake killed killed 73,276 people in Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir and about 1,300 in Indian Kashmir.

Civilians were not allowed to cross because the two countries have not yet exchanged lists of those wishing to do so, as required under their October 30 agreement to oppen the border. Pakistan's foreign ministry also said many Kashmiris were unaware of the procedures.

"Because of the widespread devastation the information about crossing procedures took some time to trickle down," ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.

"Lots of people did not realise that they would require application forms and clearances to be able to cross over," she said.

"That is why not many people applied for permission to cross over. Instead they just walked up to the Line of Control (LoC) to that point to go over," she said.

"I can say that because of these teething problems there are not many applications at the moment."

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