Pakistan-administered Kashmir includes the two administrative entities Azad Kashmir (Urdu: آزاد کشمیر) and Gilgit-Baltistan (Urdu: گلگت - بلتستان). Pakistan-administered Kashmir was divided into two administrative units in 1970. In 1963, Pakistan had already ceded the Trans-Karakoram Tract to China.
Pakistan-administered Kashmir borders the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the north west, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China to the north and the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir, to the east. The territory is disputed by India, which lays claim over the area.[1] Both nations fought the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 over the former kingdom. The term for the areas is a matter of dispute between Pakistan and India. International agencies such as the United Nations[2] MSF [3] and the Red Cross[4] refer to this region as Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
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The Pakistan Declaration of 1933 had envisioned the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir as one of the "five Northern units of India" that were to form the new nation of Pakistan, on the basis of its Muslim majority. India has a different perspective on this interpretation.
Maharaja Hari Singh, King of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir agreed to Governor-General Mountbatten's[5][6] suggestion to sign the Instrument of Accession India demanded accession in return for assistance. India claimed that the whole territory of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir had become Indian territory (India's official posture) due to the accession , it claims the whole region including Azad Kashmir territory as its own.
There are more than 20,000 pieces of rock art and petroglyphs all along the Karakoram Highway in Gilgit Baltistan, concentrated at ten major sites between Hunza and Shatial. The carvings were left by various invaders, traders, and pilgrims who passed along the trade route, as well as by locals. The earliest date back to between 5000 and 1000 BCE, showing single animals, triangular men and hunting scenes in which the animals are larger than the hunters. These carvings were pecked into the rock with stone tools and are covered with a thick patina that proves their age. The archaeologist Karl Jettmar has pieced together the history of the area from various inscriptions and recorded his findings in Rock Carvings and Inscriptions in the Northern Areas of Pakistan[7] and the later released Between Gandhara and the Silk Roads - Rock Carvings Along the Karakoram Highway.[8]
During the partition of British India into the Dominion of Pakistan and the Republic of India, the Princely states had the options of joining either India or Pakistan. The Maharaja of Kashmir wanted independence but a revolution by muslims in the western part of the kingdom[9] and the incursion of tribesmen from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa made him appeal for help from India.[10] The tribesmen were sent in but British General Douglas Gracey of Pakistani army refused to follow orders from Muhammad Ali Jinnah to attack Kashmir.[10] The tribesmen were equipped with light tanks and were almost at the doorsteps of Srinagar before Indian army stopped them.[10]"The raiders advanced into Baramulla, the biggest commercial centre of the region with a population then of 11,000, until they were only an hour away from Srinagar." Unable to prevent the advance the Maharaja, on October 24, 1947, appealed for military assistance from the Government of India. The Indian Government argued that in order for assistance the state would have to accede to India.
According to the Indian embassy:
| “ | Whereupon the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947. A simultaneous appeal for assistance and for the state’s accession to the Indian Union was also made by Sheikh Abdullah, leader of the National Conference, and the undisputed leader of the people, who had for his views been imprisoned by the Maharaja’s government into September ’47 and released only under pressure of India’s Prime Minister. On receipt of the signed Instrument of Accession from the Maharaja, preparations were made to fly Indian troops to the State. The formal letter of acceptance of the Accession was signed by Lord Mountbatten on October 27 making Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India even as Indian forces were airlifted to Srinagar. | ” |
Pakistan disputes this and according to the BBC
| “ | Recent research, from British sources, has indicated that Hari Singh did not reach Jammu until the evening of 26 October and that, due to poor flying conditions, V P Menon was unable to get to Jammu until the morning of 27 October , by which time Indian troops were already arriving in Srinagar. In order to support the thesis that the Maharaja acceded before Indian troops landed, Indian sources have now suggested that Hari Singh signed an Instrument of Accession before he left Srinagar but that it was not made public until later. This was because Hari Singh had not yet agreed to include the Kashmiri leader, Sheikh Abdullah, in his future government." [11] | ” |
Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India asked the UN to intervene. The United Nations passed the United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 asking Pakistan to withdraw all its forces from Kashmir. This was to be followed by a plebscite to determine the wishes of people of the entire state of Kashmir.[12] However the required withdrawal never happened. The area which remained under the control of Pakistan is called Azad Kashmir.
The whole area of Pakistan-administered Kashmir was administered as it was before independence.
Additionally, a part of Hunza-Gilgit called Raskam and the Shaksgam Valley of Baltistan region, ceded by Pakistan to the People's Republic of China in 1963 pending settlement of the dispute over Kashmir. This ceded area is also known as the Trans-Karakoram Tract.
Pakistan-administered Kashmir is administratively divided into two parts:
Azad Kashmir does not include Aksai Chin, the area of the former Princely state of Kashmir and Jammu that is under Chinese control since 1962.The cease-fire line that separates Jammu and Kashmir from the Aksai Chin is known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).[9]
Elections were held to the 49-seat Legislative Assembly of Azad Kashmir on July 11 to the eighth Legislative Assembly since 1970 (seventh since 1974 when Pakistan granted the region a parliamentary system with adult franchise). Azad Kashmir is categorised as an autonomous region. But critics claim titles such as Prime Minister and President for the region's elected political leadership are misleading[14] as candidates are required to sign an affidavit of allegiance to Kashmir's accession to Pakistan.[14]
On September 14, 1994, the Supreme Court of Azad Kashmir ruled that "the Northern areas are a part of J&K State but are not a part of Azad J&K as defined in the Interim Constitution Act 1974".[15] The Northern Areas presently has no officially named status in Pakistan. Pakistan does not consider this area as a "province" of Pakistan or as a part of "Azad Kashmir". They are ruled directly from Islamabad through a Northern Areas Council. A chief executive (usually a retired Pakistani army officer), appointed by Islamabad is the local administrative head.[16] This area presently has no representatives in both the Azad Kashmir Assembly and in Pakistan’s parliament. Northern Areas’ Legislative Council was created with a membership of 29 (later increased to 32) , but its powers are restricted. On May 11, 2007 the NA’s chief executive, who also happens to be the Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Affairs, declared that the region had a right to be represented in the National Assembly. Others demand that it should be given the status of a province. The changes made in 1994 in the local bodies’ ordinance gave more representation to women and delegated some administrative and financial powers to the local administration. However, the people of the region do not enjoy fundamental rights, because it continues to be governed by the Legal Framework Order of 1994.[17]
Media related to Pakistan-administered Kashmir at Wikimedia Commons