Islamabad, May 2 (EFE).- The regional government of Pakistan’s controlled Kashmir region on Friday ordered residents to stockpile food amid escalated tensions with India following a deadly attack last month.
India has blamed Pakistan for backing an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in its istered Kashmir on Apr. 22, in which 26 people were killed.
Islamabad has rejected the accusation.
The nuclear-armed rivals have since expelled each other’s diplomats and citizens, ordered the border shut and closed their airspace to each other.
New Delhi has also suspended a crucial river water-sharing treaty with Islamabad.
Addressing the regional legislative assembly, Prime Minister of Pakistan-istered Kashmir Chaudhry Anwar ul Haq on Friday said that at least three meetings of his cabinet had been held during the last 24 hours.
He said that important decisions were made during the meetings in view of the prevailing situation.
“In the 13 constituencies of Azad Kashmir, instructions have been made, and work has been started to fulfill the needs for food and to ensure a stockpile of food (sufficient) for at least two months,” Haq said during his address.
He said the government had also set up an emergency response fund in which one billion rupees ($3.5 million) were being transferred.
“In 13 constituencies along the LoC (Line of Control), the stock of medicines in health infrastructure, and wherever the four-wheel ambulances need to be replaced, inshaallah (God willing), that entire infrastructure will be overhauled in the coming two to three days,” the leader added.
In addition, efforts are underway to establish alternative communication channels in the region, anticipating possible disruptions to existing lines due to increased military activity along the LoC from the Indian side.
The decision comes two days after authorities in the Kashmir region also closed more than 1000 religious seminaries for 10 days, fearing military action.
The notification issued by the religious affairs ministry stated that all religious schools (Madrasas) in Kashmir will remain closed for ten days, starting from Wednesday.
Schools in the disputed region are also holding first aid training sessions for pupils to learn how to respond in case war breaks out.
“We have held several sessions of providing first aid training to pupils to respond if war starts,” a school teacher from Sudhanoti district in the region told EFE on condition of anonymity.
During Friday prayers, people were urged to and stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the armed forces during the “war.”
“If war starts, you should stand shoulder to shoulder with your soldiers to fight the enemy,” a cleric said during a Friday ceremony on a mosque loudspeaker in the regional capital, Muzaffarabad.
Pakistan has also started a series of diplomatic countermeasures against India’s possible move to launch an attack against it.
Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, has spoken to the foreign ministers of over a dozen different countries since tensions flared up.
India and Pakistan, which both control Kashmir in part but claim in full, have fought three wars over the Himalayan region since the end of British rule in 1947.
The de facto LoC dividing the region is one of the world’s most dangerous borders. EFE
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