NEW DELHI, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- India has announced it will send aid supplies to its longtime rival, Pakistan, where thousands of people are homeless after Saturday's earthquake.
Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran said blankets, tents, medical supplies and food would be part of the first relief consignment, to be sent Tuesday evening.
Observers expect the move to strengthen peace moves between the neighbors, who have fought three wars since 1947, the BBC reported Monday.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "directed that a consignment of these items should be put together on a very urgent basis and delivered to Pakistan at the earliest," Saran said
Singh was one of the first leaders to offer his country's help to Pakistan following Saturday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 20,000 Pakistanis.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf reportedly also made a similar offer for quake victims in Indian-administered Kashmir.
In 2001 Pakistan sent two planeloads of aid supplies to India's western state of Gujarat to help the victims of an earthquake there.
