Pakistan-administered Kashmir called on residents near the de facto border with India to stockpile food on Friday as tensions flare between the arch-rivals following a deadly attack last month.
India blames Pakistan for backing a shooting on civilians at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that killed 26 men.
India鈥檚 foreign minister said that those who planned and carried out an attack in Kashmir 鈥榤ust be brought to justice鈥�.
鈥業ts perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice,鈥� India鈥檚 top diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a statement following a conversation with US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Wednesday evening in which they discussed the attack.
Rubio also spoke to Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, and in a US readout of the call, told Sharif of the 鈥榥eed to condemn the terror attack鈥� in Kashmir.
Islamabad has denied the charge and the uneasy neighbours have issued a raft of tit-for-tat punitive diplomatic measures.
The two nuclear-armed countries have exchanged gunfire for eight consecutive nights along the militarised Line of Control, the de facto border that separates the contested Kashmir region.
鈥業nstructions have been issued to stock food supplies for two months in the 13 constituencies along the Line of Control,鈥� the prime minister of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Chaudhry Anwar ul Haq, told the local assembly on Friday.
The regional government has also created an emergency fund of one billion rupees ($3.5 million) to ensure the supply of 鈥榝ood, medicines and all other basic necessities鈥� to the 13 constituencies, he said.
Government and privately owned machinery was also being deployed to maintain roads in the areas along the LoC, he said.
In Muzaffarabad, the region鈥檚 capital, dozens of protesters rallied under the banner of a Kashmiri political coalition, chanting 鈥楧eath to India鈥� and calling for 鈥楯ihad鈥�, according to an AFP journalist.
鈥楾his protest march is a show of solidarity with the Pakistan military,鈥� Farooq Rahmani, one of the organisers of the protest said.
鈥業f there is any misadventure by India, we are ready to respond firmly,鈥� he added.
The attack in Indian Kashmir and subsequent tensions, including expulsions and closed border crossings, have raised fears of a conflagration between India and Pakistan.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday gave the military 鈥榗omplete operational freedom鈥� to respond to the attack.
Pakistan said earlier this week it had 鈥榗redible evidence鈥� that India is planning an imminent military strike, vowing that any attack would be met with a response.
Fearing a military escalation, authorities in Pakistani Kashmir shut more than 1,000 religious schools for 10 days on Thursday.
鈥榃e have announced a 10-day break for all madrassas in Kashmir,鈥� said Hafiz Nazeer Ahmed, head of the local religious affairs department.
A department source said it was 鈥榙ue to tensions at the border and the potential for conflict鈥�.
India and Pakistan, which both claim Kashmir in full, have fought over the Himalayan territory since the end of British rule in 1947.