ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan said on Sunday he was satisfied with the efforts of various state departments and institutions to contain the coronavirus pandemic in the territory.
On Monday, a three week lockdown in the territory came into effect for its roughly 4 million residents. Khan said there were currently 90 people suspected to have contracted the disease, with two testing positive and six whose final results were awaited. No fatalities have so far been reported in the region.
“As the testing increases, there may be other cases but by and large the impact of coronavirus is less in the region,” the president told Arab News and added: “We are not facing any food shortages so far and supply chains are fully working.
The lockdown has been enforced in all big and small cities, he added, with various measures adopted for social distancing as well as to ensure little participation in religious congregations and social gatherings.
He said the government had set up quarantine centers and upgraded facilities at all major hospitals, and Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had extended its help.
At the same time, Khan said he was deeply concerned about the spread of the pandemic across the border in Indian administered Kashmir, and urged the Indian government to immediately release thousands of Kashmiris languishing in various Indian prisons.
He said the prisons in India and Indian administered Kashmir were crowded beyond capacity. 
“The outbreak of COVID-19 has necessitated immediate release of all the prisoners particularly the inmates suffering from complicated diseases,” he said.
“People in Indian Kashmir are under double lockdown,” he added and appealed to the international community, particularly the United Nations, to take strict notice of new restrictions imposed by India on the movement of citizens and on the Internet in Indian administered Kashmir. 
“The people of occupied Kashmir are facing great difficulties in reaching hospitals and health facilities due to the latest Indian restrictions, and getting information about the COVID-19 due to blockade of Internet services,” he said, and warned the current state of affairs could lead to a faster spread of the virus in the Indian administered territory.
On Sunday, Pakistan’s foreign office said in a statement the humanitarian situation in Indian administered Kashmir had been dire since August last year, and called for the immediate release of Kashmiri prisoners and the lifting of restrictions in the territory in the wake of the deadly new pandemic sweeping the world.
The total number of Covid-19 cases in India crossed the 1,000 mark on Sunday with around 33 cases in Indian administered Kashmir.