Sections of the Indian Administered Kashmir have been placed under lockdown, telephone and internet services have been disconnected, and some of the pro-India local leaders including former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah have been put under house arrest.
This follows deployment of additional 10,000 troops in Kashmir valley, closure of educational institutions and an order for Hindu pilgrims and tourists to leave the valley, currently under President Rule.
"As per the order there shall be no movement of public and all educational institutions shall also remain closed," a statement by the government of Jammu and Kashmir, said on Sunday night.
In the past week, Government issued orders directing doctors to remain prepared, and district administrators to remain standby.
According to Al Jazeera News, Kashmir esidents fear New Delhi is planning to engineer "demographic changes" in India's only Muslim-majority region by scrapping a law that prohibits outsiders from buying land in India-administered Kashmir.
Former state Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah chaired a meeting of political leaders from the region on Sunday, who issued a statement, warning "against any tinkering with the special status of the region" as guaranteed under Article 35A of the Indian constitution.
The statement said the region's political parties "remain united … in their resolve to protect the autonomy and special status" of Kashmir.
Article 35A has been challenged by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its right-wing allies through a series of petitions in India's Supreme Court.
Last month, a senior BJP leader hinted that the government was planning to form exclusive Hindu settlements in the region, reported Al Jazeera News.
Syed Ali Geelani, a top separatist leader, also issued a statement on Sunday, calling on Kashmiris to use "unity and brotherhood" to fight "India's aggression".
According to Al Jazeera News, Nearly 700,000 Indian soldiers are deployed in India-administered Kashmir, where civilian protesters and armed rebels either want freedom or merger with Pakistan.
On Sunday, long queues were seen outside petrol stations, food and medical stores, and ATM machines in the main city of Srinagar as residents rushed to stockpiling essential rations and fuel.
There has also been a fresh surge in hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbours along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Indian Army on Sunday claimed a "number of attempts by Pakistan to disturb peace in the valley", but Pakistan denied it.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted that the situation had the potential to "blow up into a regional crisis."
"The only road to peace and security in South Asia runs through a peaceful and just settlement of Kashmir," he posted.
Residents along the LoC said the artillery shelling in recent days has given them sleepless nights as they feared "another war".
Human rights organisations have claimed constant human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed territory administered by India, including mass killings, forced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse for political repression and suppression of freedom of speech.
UN human rights report on Kashmir in June 2018 has called for international inquiry into ongoing human rights violations and abuses in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Rights Groups referred in Wikipedia; about “100,000 people have died since 1989 while the official figures from Indian sources state the estimates of number of civilians killed due to the insurgency in the range of 16,725 to 47,000”
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in its Foreign Ministers Meet in March 2019, adopted a resolution on Jammu and Kashmir, condemning the “atrocities and human rights violations” in the state,
The resolution on Kashmir used phrases such as “Indian terrorism” and “mass blindings” by Indian security forces on protesting youths.
