On 04 Oct 1947
Azad ("Free") Kashmir established; officially: State of Jammu and Kashmir,
which is a separate territory of Pakistan. Area: 13,297 km˛ (5,134 mi˛).
Langauges: Urdu (official), Hindko, Mirpuri, Pahari, Gojri, Pashto. Urdu is
the national language of Azad Kashmir but is only spoken by a minority. The
dominant language spoken in AJK is Pahari. It is very similar to Pothwari
and Hindko.
Both Indiaad and
Pakistan claim all of Kashmir, but the territory has been partitioned
between them since 1947. India controls the southern half of Kashmir, which
it has organized as the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Before India's defeat in
the 1962 Sino-Indian War, the state of Jammu and Kashmir also included the
north-eastern section of the territory, which India still claims as part of
Jammu and Kashmir State, but which has since been occupied by China.
Pakistan controls the northern and western portion of Kashmir which is known
as Azad Jammu and Kashmir State comprises about 1,680 sq km (650 sq mi). The
administrative centre of Azad Kashmir is Muzaffarabad.
Kashmir is an
ancient country, much fought over because of its strategic location.
According to tradition, its name derives from the Khasi, a people who lived
in the northern mountains several centuries before the Christian era. The
country was originally a stronghold of Hinduism; Buddhism was introduced
about 245 BC. Beginning in the mid-14th century AD, Muslim sultans
controlled the area for two centuries. Akbar, the Mughal emperor of
Hindustan, conquered Kashmir between 1586 and 1592, and it became a part of
the Mughal empire. Between 1756 and 1819 it was under Afghan rule; in the
latter year, Kashmir was conquered by Ranjit Singh, the Sikh maharaja of the
Punjab. In 1846 Kashmir was annexed to the (Hindu) Dogra kingdom of Jammu;
the Dogra dynasty continued to rule the region until August 1947, when
British India was partitioned into a predominantly Muslim Pakistan and a
predominantly Hindu India.
Following partition, a section of the Muslim population of Kashmir demanded
accession to Pakistan. The reigning maharaja, Sir Hari Singh, a Hindu,
resisted the pro-Pakistani movement. Pakistan invaded the area, after which
the maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession to the Indian Union. India
thereupon dispatched troops to Kashmir, and in the ensuing conflict forced
the Pakistanis to yield ground. Through mediation organized by the United
Nations, a ceasefire agreement between the two nations was concluded in
January 1949. Subsequent UN efforts to secure troop withdrawals and develop
a plebiscitary plan satisfactory to both sides were unsuccessful. Heavy
border fighting broke out in 1965, 1971 and again in Kargil 1999, and led to the "line of
control" which has since formed the boundary between the Indian- and
Pakistani-controlled sections of Kashmir. China began conducting military manoeuvres in the border areas of eastern Kashmir in the 1950s. Since
India's defeat in the Sino-Indian war of October 1962, the north-eastern
part of Ladakh, in Jammu and Kashmir state, has been occupied by China. The
Chinese authorities have since built a strategic road throughout the
disputed territory, connecting Sinkiang with Tibet.
Abdul Rashid Abbasi (1st
time)...................29 Jul 1991 - 12 Aug
1991
Sardar Sikandar Hayat
Khan.......................12 Aug 1991 - 12 May 1996
Abdul Rashid Abbasi (2nd
time)...................12 Aug 1996 - 25 Aug
1996
Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan (4th
time)..........25 Aug 1996 - 25 Aug 2001
Sardar Mohammad Anwar
Khan.......................25 Aug 2001 - 25 Aug 2006
Raja Zulqarnain
Khan.............................25 Aug 2006 - date
Prime
Ministers
Abdul Hamid
Khan....................................Jun 1977 - Aug 1977
Abdul Rahman Khan (acting)..........................Aug
1977 - Oct 1978
Martial
Law.........................................Oct 1978 - 17 Jun 1985
Sardar Sikandar Hayat
Khan (1st
time)............17
Jun 1985 - 29 Jun 1990
Sardar Sikandar
Hayat Khan born into an eminent political family of Kashmir, he is the son
of Sardar Fateh Muhammad Khan Karelvi, a name synonymous with one of the
first major uprisings against the repressive Dogra regime in 1931. It was
Sardar Fateh Muhammad Khan Karelvi, who led the popular agitation against an
arbitrary tax on salt imposed by the Maharaja's regime. Three years later in
1934, running as a candidate for the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim
Conference, he was elected to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature, the Praja
Sabha, from his home constituency of Mendhar-Poonch, an office he
successfully held through the elections of 1938 and 1944. In 1948 when he
was President of All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference Mendhar, he
organised the supply of arms to protect the Poonch and Rajauri area[1] and
later, he also served as a member of the State Council during 1969-70. He is
remembered today by the Muslims of Azad Jammu and Kashmir as one of the
pioneers of the struggle of the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their rights
under the tyrannical and alien rule of the Dogras.
Raja Mumtaz Hussain
Rathore......................29 Jun 1990 - 05 Jul 1991
Sardar Muhammad Ashraf
(acting)..................05
Jul 1991 - 29 Jul 1991
Sardar Mohammad Abdul
Qayyum Khan................29 Jul 1991 - 31 Jul 1996
He made history in
1996 by becoming the first Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir hailing from the
Mirpur region. He is the son of of Prominent Kashmiri Leader Chaudhry Noor
Hussain Thathaal.
Sardar Attique Ahmed
Khan Abbassi................24 Jul 2006 - 06 Jan 2009
Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob
Khan......................06 Jan 2009 - 14 Oct 2009
He took oath after
a successful no-confidence motion against the former premier Sardar Attique
Ahmad Khan. Later Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan resigned to avoid a
no-confidence motion planned against him by the opposition.
Sardar Qamaruz Zaman (acting)....................14 Oct 2009
- 22 Oct 2009
Raja Farooq Haider...............................22
Oct 2009 - date
![[Azad Kashmir]](pk-ajk.gif)