Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Urdu: آزاد جموں و کشمیر Azad Jammu o Kashmir) abbreviated AJK or, for short, Azad Kashmir (literally Free Kashmir) is a self governing territory controlled by Pakistan, it lays west of Indian controlled Jammu and Kashmir. It was part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which ceased to exist as a result of the first Kashmir war in 1947, fought between India an
d Pakistan. It shares border with Gilgit Baltistan, which along with itself is referred by United Nations as "Pakistani-controlled Kashmir". Azad Jammu and Kashmir borders the Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir to the east (separated from it by the Line of Control), Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province to the west and Pakistan's Punjab Province to the south. With its capital at Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir covers an area of 13,297 square kilometres (5,134 sq mi) and has an estimated population of about four million. The centre of one of the worlds largest disputes, Azad Kashmir has a parliamentary form of Government. The president is the constitutional head of the state, while the prime minister, supported by a Council of Ministers, is the chief executive. Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elects both the prime minister and president. The state has its own Supreme Court and a High Court. The Ministry of Kashmir affairs serves as a link between the Government of Pakistan and the Government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The 2005 earthquake left the region in unparalleled devastation, including 3 million people were displaced and 100,000 deaths. Since then with help from Islamabad and foreign donors reconstruction of infrastructure is underway. Currently, its economy largely depends on agriculture, services, tourism and remittances sent each year by members of the large Kashmiri diaspora. There are approximately 1880 hospital beds, the total number of doctors, including administrative doctors, health managers snf dentists is 702. Azad Kashmir's literacy rate is well 64%. At present the gross enrolment rate at primary level is 95% for boys and 88% for girls (between the age of 5-9). History
History of Azad Kashmir
Further information: History of Kashmir
At the time of the Partition of India in 1947, the British abandoned their suzerainty over the princely states, which were left with the options of joining India or Pakistan or remaining independent. Hari Singh, the maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, wanted his state to remain independent. In order to buy some time, he signed a stand-still agreement, which sidestepped the encouragement of the princely states to join either India or Pakistan. Later, there was a revolution by Muslims in the western part of the state, as raiders from what was then the North-West Frontier Province and the tribal areas feared that Hari Singh might accede to the Union of India. In October 1947, they attacked Kashmir in an attempt to take control of the princely state. Initially, Hari Singh tried to counter the invasion but failed. He then requested the military assistance of India, which responded that it would not help him unless he acceded to India. On October 26, 1947, Hari Singh signed an Instrument of Accession, and Indian troops were immediately airlifted into Srinagar. Pakistan intervened subsequently. Fighting ensued between the Indian and Pakistani armies, with the two areas of control stabilized, more or less, around what is now known as the "Line of Control". Later, India approached the United Nations, asking it to solve the dispute, and resolutions were passed in favor of the holding of a plebiscite with regard to Kashmir's future. However, no such plebiscite has ever been held on either side, since there was a precondition which required the withdrawal of the Pakistani Army along with the non-state elements and the subsequent partial withdrawal of the Indian Army. from the parts of Kashmir under their respective control – a withdrawal that never took place. In 1949, a cease-fire line separating the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir was formally put into effect. Following the 1949 cease-fire agreement, the government of Pakistan divided the northern and western parts of Kashmir which it held into the following two separately-controlled political entities:
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) – the narrow, southern part, 250 miles (400 km) long, with a width varying from 10 to 40 miles (16 to 64 km). Gilgit–Baltistan formerly called the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) – the much larger political entity to the north of AJK with an area of 72,496 square kilometres (27,991 sq mi). It was directly administered by Pakistan as a de facto dependent territory, i.e., a non-self-governing territory. However, it was ostensibly granted "full autonomy" on August 29, 2009. An area of Kashmir that was once under Pakistani control is the Shaksgam tract, a small region along the northeastern border of Gilgit-Baltistan that was provisionally ceded by Pakistan to the People's Republic of China in 1963 and which now forms part of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In 1972, the then-current border between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir was designated as the "Line of Control". The Line of Control has remained unchanged since the 1972 Simla Agreement, which bound the two countries "to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations". Some political experts claim that, in view of that pact, the only solution to the issue is mutual negotiation between the two countries without involving a third party such as the United Nations.
