Pakistan will send its special envoys to selected countries in a bid to highlight human rights violations by Indian forces in Held Kashmir, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said on Monday.
"The federal cabinet in its special meeting Monday declared that Kashmir Solidarity Day would be observed on Wednesday (April 6) in support of Kashmiri people and against Indian brutalities," the foreign minister said.
"It also decided to send special envoys of the prime minister, including the President of Azad Jammu Kashmir, to selected capitals to highlight the deteriorating situation in IOK," he added.
Indian authorities Monday shut schools and blocked internet services in Held Kashmir, after a weekend of protests and gunbattles left 20 dead and 200 injured - including many civilians with damaged eyesight.
Three soldiers, 13 suspected militants and four civilians died in a series of clashes south of the main city of Srinagar, in the single worst day of violence in Kashmir since 2016.
Thousands took to the streets over the weekend in support of the rebels, who have been fighting for decades for independence or for a merger with Pakistan.
Police opened fire with live rounds and pellet guns on mourners attending the funerals of slain militants and on crowds who threw stones and chanted slogans against Indian rule.
The civilian and military leadership in Pakistan condemned the violence.
Government of Pakistan strongly condemns the brutal use of force by India in Indian Occupied #Kashmir. Indian forces have crossed the limits of brutality due to which human rights are being violated.#KashmirBleeds #Kashmiris pic.twitter.com/jyNtvGbzCo
— Govt of Pakistan (@pid_gov) April 2, 2018
“Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir can never suppress a just indigenous political struggle for self determination. Brutalities by Indian Security Forces against innocent Kashmiris in IOK and CFVs along LOC/WB targeting civilians are highly condemnable”, COAS.#KashmirBlackDay
— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) April 2, 2018
Doctors said Monday the extent of pellet gun injuries was the worst they had seen since hundreds were wounded in unrest that followed the shooting death of charismatic rebel commander Burhan Wani in July 2016.
"Most of them have pellets in their eyes," said Dr Saleem Tak, medical superintendent at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar, of the 45 patients who arrived at the hospital after Sunday's violence.
"This was the highest number of these injuries received in the hospital on a single day since 2016."
The use of pellet guns is controversial in Indian-held Kashmir. Amnesty International has called for the weapons to be banned, describing them as cruel and indiscriminate.
One man who declined to give his name for fear of reprisals told AFP his two teenage sons were struck by pellets while attending a militant's funeral.
"The doctors are trying to save their eyes. We have to give these sacrifices for freedom," he said.
Another woman tended to her son, who wore a bandage over a damaged eye.
"They say everything is fine in Kashmir, but look what happens here," she said, also declining to give her name.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947.
Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have been killed in separatist violence since the late 1980s.
