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35°35′N 75°9′E / 35.583°N 75.150°E / 35.583; 75.150

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir consists of two regions Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas. It borders Indian-administered Kashmir to the east, the Pakistani Punjab and North-West Frontier provinces to the west, and the People's Republic of China to the north. The territories are disputed between India and Pakistan and it is referred to by India as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Conversely, Pakistan refers to Indian-administered Kashmir as Indian-occupied Kashmir.

History

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 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. The Maharaja of Kashmir however wanted independence.

In 1947 tribal invaders arrived in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has always claimed that its government was not behind these raids and that these were spontaneous expressions of Muslim sentiment following reports of killing of Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir.

India disputes this citing the book "Raiders in Kashmir" in which Major General Akbar Khan, a Pakistani states the following "I wrote out a plan under the title 'Armed Revolt inside Kashmir'. As open interference or aggression by Pakistan was obviously not desirable it was proposed that our efforts should be concentrated upon strengthening the Kashmiris internally—and .. to prevent arrival of armed civilian or military assistance from India into Kashmir...".

American journalist Margaret Bourke-White describes the plunder by the raiders:

"Their buses and trucks, loaded with booty, arrived every other day and took more Pathans to Kashmir. Ostensibly they want to liberate their Kashmiri Muslim brothers, but their primary objective was riot and loot. In this they made no distinction between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims".

"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. To date no authentic original document has been made available."

Indian forces started pushing back the Pakistanis. The then Prime Minister of India asked the UN to intervene. The United Nations asked for a ceasefire and the present 'Line of Control' was created. The area which remained under the control of Pakistan became the Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Administered divisions

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is administratively divided into two parts:

1. Azad Kashmir;
2. The Northern Areas, consisting of the regions of Gilgit and Baltistan. Gilgit was an agency leased by the Maharaja to British Government. Baltistan was western district of Ladakh province which was annexed by Pakistan in 1948. Both regions of Gilgit and Baltistan are administered as a de facto "Federal Territory" of Pakistan by a Pakistani minister. As the area is part of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region, the local population is denied the right to vote or send representatives to the Pakistani parliament or senate;

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.

References

1. Kashmir: The origins of the dispute - BBC
2. United Nations Resolution 13 AUGUST 1948

External links

• Kashmir - An Indian perspective
• BBC article, Kashmir: The origins of the dispute
• An article on human rights in Pakistani Kashmir by the Hindu - an Indian Newpaper
• Conflict in Kashmir: Selected Internet Resources by the Library, University of California, Berkeley, USA; University of California at Berkeley Library Bibliographies and Web-Bibliographies list

• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from January 2008
• Independent India
• History of Jammu and Kashmir
• Kashmir
• Disputed territories in Asia