Islamabad, Nov 7, SPA -- Pakistan and India opened their frontier in divided Kashmir for earthquake relief, raising hopes of a lasting settlement of their corrosive decades-old dispute over the territory. Army commanders and government officials from the two sides met at the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border that has divided the Himalayan region since the late 1940s, and shook hands before declaring the crossing point open. Indian and Pakistani porters then began unloading the trucks and handed the supplies to each other on the Pakistani side, the first time ever that a shipment of relief had crossed the heavily militarized frontier. "This is a huge day in the history of both Kashmir and the subcontinent," Sardar Mohammed Farooq, the deputy commissioner of Pakistani Kashmir who represented the Pakistani side, told AFP. "It has given us all a new ray of hope." Indian officials said they were sending 25 truckloads of relief to the Pakistani side -- worst hit by the October 8 quake which killed more than 74,000 people -- including tents, tarpaulins, food and medicine. White tape had earlier been laid along the LoC at the crossing -- Titrinote on the Pakistani side and Chakandabagh in the Indian zone -- and both sides had laid out red carpets. A sign on the Indian side read, "We have not opened the LoC, we have opened hearts." On his part, B.R. Sharma, divisional commissioner for the Jammu district of Indian Kashmir, said after shaking hands with Pakistan's Farooq at the ceremony that civilians may be able to cross by November 14. "It's definitely a very historic and very important moment," he told reporters.--SPA1420 Local Time 1120 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/301029