A girl looks out from a tent at a relief camp in Poonch. (Reuters)

New Delhi, Oct. 11: Islamabad today pulled back from the brink of green-flagging what would have been a pathbreaking gesture in bilateral relations, denying air force helicopters permission to bring back seven Indians stranded in Pakistan Kashmir.

The seven, who had gone to Muzaffarabad on the peace bus, will now be taken to Islamabad. One of the bus passengers has died ? the first Indian casualty of the quake inside Pakistan.

A special Indian flight might be sent to Islamabad or the stranded passengers could be brought back in the IAF transport aircraft that is scheduled to leave for the Pakistan capital with relief material either tonight or tomorrow morning.

The departure of the plane, loaded with 26 tonnes of tents, plastic sheets, blankets, food and medicines, was delayed because of overcrowding at the Islamabad airport.

Agency reports identified the dead bus passenger as Basti Ram Tandon, who had gone to PoK to visit his place of birth at Battian Dupatta village and meet his brother Maqbul who has converted.

But Indian officials in Pakistan said they could only confirm that the victim belonged to the Tandon family and not his identity.

The officials said the head of the family was injured but a relative died. Tandon was accompanied by his brother and nephew.

The Indian high commissioner in Islamabad, Shiv Shankar Menon, said the dead man would be cremated in Pakistan Kashmir. The injured passenger will be admitted to hospital in Islamabad.

As many as 54 Indians were in Pakistan Kashmir when the quake struck. The bus on which the Tandon family and some Sikhs travelled was the first to carry non-Muslim passengers.

Officials said efforts are on to trace the remaining Indians. An exercise has also begun to send back 13 Pakistanis who have been stranded in Jammu and Kashmir. They will return home through the Wagah border.

Delhi had asked permission to send IAF choppers to Muzaffarabad to get back the Indians. Pakistan initially showed willingness to allow the helicopters to enter the disputed zone but later changed its mind.

No reason was cited for the turnaround. But concerns about domestic “sensitivities” are being seen as the compulsion that forced Pakistan’s hand.

This afternoon, Pakistani foreign minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri called up his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh to thank Delhi for its help in the relief effort.

In Islamabad, the Pakistani leadership said it does not need any helicopters from India and ruled out joint relief operations on both sides of the Line of Control.