On Pakistan s side of Kashmir locals fear they ll be the first to face India s ire

MUZAFFARABAD, Kashmir – Families are reinforcing their bunkers and confirming evacuation plans. Hospitals have stocked up on essential medicines. Schoolchildren are being trained on the essentials of first aid.

All across the Pakistani-held section of Kashmir, there is an air of emergency, a persistent trepidation as the threat of military confrontation looms.

“God willing, nothing will happen,” said Mr Azeem Gilani, a baker in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. “We have seen this before. But if, God forbid, the situation worsens, Kashmiris on both sides will suffer.”

Since an attack two weeks ago on the Indian-administered side of Kashmir left 26 people, mostly tourists, dead, Kashmiris have tried to prepare for a military escalation, which began early on May 7 with India announcing that it had conducted strikes in Pakistan and on Pakistan’s side of Kashmir.

Both countries claim Kashmir in its entirety, but each controls only a section.

The Himalayan territory has been the main flashpoint of conflict between the nations for almost 80 years.

Soon after the attack, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged “severe punishment” for the perpetrators and suggested that Pakistan had been involved.

In turn, Pakistan claimed that it had “credible intelligence” suggesting an imminent Indian military strike, and its leaders promised a strong response to any aggression.

Kashmiris on the Pakistani-controlled side of the territory fear they could be in the first line of fire.

Past conflicts between India and Pakistan have often begun with confrontation along the border between the two sides of Kashmir, known as the Line of Control.

“It is not new for us,” said Mr Tanzeel Ahmed, who runs a grocery store in a village near Athmuqam, 3.2km from the border. “We have lived through this before.”

Many in Kashmir make their living from the tourism industry or