The Pakistani government yesterday dramatically increased the official death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit the north of the country last month to 73,276 and said it could rise further.

Federal Relief Commissioner Major-General Farooq Ahmed Khan told a news conference the sharp rise from a figure of 57,600 given a day earlier could be related to concerted efforts to clear up debris since the Oct. 8 disaster.

Residents of Gharkot village -- mostly shepherds -- threw stones at vehicles carrying officials and relief materials before being chased away by the police, a witness said.

Soon afterwards the protestors, carrying long sticks and shouting slogans against the local administration, regrouped and sat on the highway linking the village to the main town of Uri, about 95km northwest of the Indian Kashmir summer capital Srinagar.

They disrupted traffic for more than an hour but broke off the protest later after police and state government officials assured them a delegation would soon visit their village.

Mohammad Ashraf, a survivor of the 7.6-magnitude October 8 earthquake that devastated much of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and border areas of India's zone of the divided state, said Gharkot had received no aid so far because most residents were Gujjars (shepherds) or people from lower castes.