Islamabad had asked New Delhi on Thursday for permission to fly helicopters in the one-kilometre (0.6-mile) wide "peace time no-fly zone" along the Line of Control (LoC), a ministry statement said.

"We are conveying our agreement today to this request, provided permission is taken on a case-by-case basis," it said.

The Indian foreign ministry denied however that Pakistan had requested permission to cross the frontline to have better access to earthquake-hit villages located close to the border.

"We have seen a news report that India is delaying action on a request by Pakistan to cross over the Line of Control. It is clarified that we have received no such request from Pakistan," the statement said.

The Pakistani newspaper Daily Times said Saturday that Islamabad had formally asked India for access through the Indian zone of Kashmir to reach remote villages in the Pakistani-held zone.

The daily added that India had not responded to Pakistans request "as the Indian government is not too happy with Islamabad refusing Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters to rescue Indians stranded in Muzaffarabad," the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

Neither country has allowed direct aid across the Line of Control, but India has sent two shipments of relief supplies to Pakistan -- one by plane, the other by train.

Until a ceasefire on November 26, the hostile neighbours periodically shelled each other over the LoC, which divdes the Himalayan region for 700 kilometers (400 miles).

Pakistan and India have been inching towards a normalisation of relations with a series of confidence-building measures in the past year-and-a-half.

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