Srinagar:
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has described as "a daft idea" a newspaper ad telling residents to prepare for nuclear war by building basement shelters.
The State Disaster Response Force, in a notice this week, urged people to build shelters to prepare for a potential nuclear conflict. The last few days have seen high tension along the Line of Control in Kashmir. Two Indian soldiers were killed by Pakistani troops who crossed over; one of the bodies was found beheaded. Pakistan says India has killed two of its soldiers in cross-border raids and firing.
"What a daft idea!!!" Mr Abdullah said in a post on micro-blogging website Twitter, referring to the advisory which appeared in a local English-language newspaper.
The notice instructed residents to build toilet-equipped underground shelters "where the whole family can stay for a fortnight", and said the bunkers should be stocked with non-perishable food.
State civil defence authorities in Kashmir confirmed that they had issued the notice on Monday but said it "should not be connected with anything else", in an apparent reference to the recent border flare-up.
The advisory was part of regular year-round civil defence preparedness, Mubarak Ganai, deputy inspector general of civil defence in the Kashmir police force, told AFP.
The notice in the Greater Kashmir daily vividly described a nuclear war scenario to prepare residents to deal with "the initial shock wave", telling people to "wait for the winds to die down and debris to stop falling".
"If the blast wave does not arrive within five seconds of the flash, you were far enough from the ground zero," it said.