Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is commonly known as Azad Kashmir is a nominally self-governing polity administered by Pakistan. The territory lies west of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir and was previously part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is a self-governing state under Pakistani control, but under Pakistan’s constitution, the state is informally part of the country. Pakistan is administering the region as a self-governing territory rather than incorporating it in the federation since the UN-mandated ceasefire. Azad Kashmir has its own elected President, Prime Minister, Legislative Assembly, High Court, with Azam Khan as its present chief justice, and official flag.
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. Muslims in Western Jammu province (current day Azad Kashmir) and the Frontier Districts Province (current day Gilgit-Baltistan) had wanted to join Pakistan.
In Spring 1947, an uprising against the Maharaja broke out in Poonch, an area bordering the Rawalpindi division of West Punjab. Maharaja’s administration is said to have started levying punitive taxes on the peasantry which provoked a local revolt and the administration resorted to brutal suppression. The area’s population, swelled by recently demobilised soldiers following World War II, rebelled against the Maharaja’s forces and gained control of almost the entire district. Following this victory, the pro-Pakistan chieftains of the western districts of Muzaffarabad, Poonch and Mirpur proclaimed a provisional Azad Jammu and Kashmir government in Rawalpindi on October 3, 1947
Azad Kashmir Day is celebrated in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on October 24, which is the day that the Azad Jammu and Kashmir government was created in 1947.
Muzaffarabad, the capital city of Azad Kashmir
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is shown in red. Rest of Pakistan is shown in white and rest of Jammu and Kashmir is hatched showing area with Pakistan’s territorial claim
At one time under Pakistani control, Kashmir’s Shaksgam tract, a small region along the northeastern border of Gilgit–Baltistan, was provisionally ceded by Pakistan to the People’s Republic of China in 1963 and 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”. This line 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 the mutual negotiation between the two countries without involving a third party such as the United Nations.
The 1974 Interim Constitution Act was passed by the 48-member Azad Jammu and Kashmir unicameral assembly.
Difference between Line of Control and International Border
The International Border (IB) is the India–Pakistan Border which serves as a border between the countries of India and Pakistan. This is the international border that is recognized by the world. The term Line of Control (LOC) refers to the military control line between the Indian and Pakistani-controlled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The International Border (IB) is the India–Pakistan Border which serves as a border between the countries of India and Pakistan. This is the international border that is recognized by the world. It is quite long and travels over a variety of terrains, ranging from major urban areas to inhospitable deserts as id divides India and Pakistan.
The International Border is based on the artificial Radcliffe line which was published on 17 August 1947 as a boundary demarcation line between India and Pakistan upon the Partition of India. Since its inception, it has been in constant conflict between India and Pakistan. It is, in fact, said to be one of the most dangerous borders in the world.
During the Partition on India and Pakistan, Maharaja Hari Singh, King of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir agreed to sign the Instrument of Accession as per the suggestion of the then Governor-General, Mountbatten. India then claimed that the whole territory of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir had become Indian territory due to the accession. However, Pakistan had believed that the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be part of the territory used to form the new nation of Pakistan as its majority was Muslim.
Since that time, the territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been in constant dispute with each country claiming it as its own. The state had become a war ground. Eventually, a Cease-fire Line was designated, with each country controlling one side. Today, the state is divided into Indian controlled Jammu and Kashmir, known as the State of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan controlled Jammu and Kashmir, known as Gilgit–Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). According to the Simla Agreement, which was signed on 3 July 1972, the Cease-fire Line was officially designated as the “Line of Control” (LOC).
While the official border between is the International Border (IB), the LOC actually is considered to be the de facto border.
AAShirgurkar&Associates 