Kashmir - Azad Jammu and Kashmir Flag 150cm x 90cm

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Despite this region being nearly uninhabitable and having no resources, it remains strategically important for China as it connects Tibet and Xinjiang. During the 1950s, the People's Republic of China built a 1,200km (750mi) road connecting Xinjiang and western Tibet, of which 179km (112mi) ran south of the Johnson Line through the Aksai Chin region claimed by India. [21] [31] Aksai Chin was easily accessible to the Chinese, but was more difficult for the Indians on the other side of the Karakorams to reach. [21] The Indians did not learn of the existence of the road until 1957, which was confirmed when the road was shown in Chinese maps published in 1958. [40] The construction of this highway was one of the triggers for the Sino-Indian War of 1962. [41] The region receives rainfall in both the winter and the summer. Muzaffarabad and Pattan are among the wettest areas of Pakistan. Throughout most of the region, the average rainfall exceeds 1400mm, with the highest average rainfall occurring near Muzaffarabad (around 1800mm). During the summer season, monsoon floods of the rivers Jhelum and Leepa are common due to extreme rains and snow melting. According to legend, an ascetic named Kashyapa reclaimed the land now comprising Kashmir from a vast lake. That land came to be known as Kashyapamar and, later, Kashmir. Buddhism was introduced by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century bce, and from the 9th to the 12th century ce the region appears to have achieved considerable prominence as a centre of Hindu culture. A succession of Hindu dynasties ruled Kashmir until 1346, when it came under Muslim rule. The Muslim period lasted nearly five centuries, ending when Kashmir was annexed to the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab in 1819 and then to the Dogra kingdom of Jammu in 1846. Azad Kashmir is home to a vibrant civil society. One of the organizations active in the territory and inside Pakistan is YFK-International Kashmir Lobby Group, an NGO that seeks better India-Pakistan relations through conflict resolution in Kashmir. Bagh city, the headquarters of Bagh District, is 205km (127mi) from Islamabad and 100km (62mi) from Muzaffarabad. The principal tourist attractions in Bagh District are Bagh Fort, Dhirkot, Sudhan Gali, Ganga Lake, Ganga Choti, Kotla Waterfall, Neela Butt, Danna, Panjal Mastan National Park, and Las Danna.

a b Sven Anders Hedin; Nils Peter Ambolt (1967). Central Asia Atlas, Memoir on Maps: Index of geographical names, by D.M. Farquhar, G. Jarring and E. Norin. Sven Hedin Foundation, Statens etnografiska museum. p.12. Aksai Chin, region between the K'unlun main range and the Loqzung Mountains: T. eq say 'white gravelly plain' + cin '(of) China' (Cin, earliest designation by which China was known in Central Asia). Christopher Snedden writes that most of the native residents of Azad Kashmir are not of Kashmiri ethnicity; rather, they could be called " Jammuites" due to their historical and cultural links with that region, which is coterminous with neighbouring Punjab and Hazara. [55] [56] Because their region was formerly a part of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir and is named after it, many Azad Kashmiris have adopted the "Kashmiri" identity, whereas in an ethnolinguistic context, the term "Kashmiri" would ordinarily refer to natives of the Kashmir Valley region. [57] The population of Azad Kashmir has strong historical, cultural and linguistic affinities with the neighbouring populations of upper Punjab and Potohar region of Pakistan, [58] [59] whereas the Sudhans have the oral tradition of the Pashtuns. [60] [61] Rediff on the NeT: PoK not part of its territory: Pakistan". www.rediff.com. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019 . Retrieved May 3, 2022. Underdevelopment in AJK". The News International. Archived from the original on September 16, 2016 . Retrieved June 18, 2016.The migration to the UK was accelerated and by the completion of Mangla Dam in 1967 the process of ' chain migration' became in full flow. Today, remittances from British Mirpuri community make a critical role in AJK's economy. In the mid-1950s various economic and social development processes were launched in Azad Kashmir. In the 1960s, with the construction of the Mangla Dam in Mirpur District, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Government began to receive royalties from the Pakistani government for the electricity that the dam provided to Pakistan. During the mid-2000s, a multibillion-dollar reconstruction began in the aftermath of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. [84] The dialects of the Pahari-Pothwari language complex cover most of the territory of Azad Kashmir. Those are also spoken across the Line of Control in the neighbouring areas of Indian Jammu and Kashmir and are closely related both to Punjabi to the south and Hinko to the northwest. The language variety in the southern districts of Azad Kashmir is known by a variety of names – including Mirpuri, Pothwari and Pahari – and is closely related to the Pothwari proper spoken to the east in the Pothohar region of Punjab. The dialects of the central districts of Azad Kashmir are occasionally referred to in the literature as Chibhali or Punchi, but the speakers themselves usually call them Pahari, an ambiguous name that is also used for several unrelated languages of the lower Himalayas. Going north, the speech forms gradually change into Hindko. Today, in the Muzaffarabad District the preferred local name for the language is Hindko, although it is still apparently more closely related to the core dialects of Pahari. [71] Further north in the Neelam Valley the dialect, locally also known as Parmi, can more unambiguously be subsumed under Hindko. [72] See also: Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, and Interim Constitution of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (1974) Muzaffarabad, the capital city of Azad Kashmir Bagh City

In the 1950s, India collected salt from various lakes in Aksai Chin to study the economic feasibility of salt mining operations in the area. [67] [68]The Sind River Or The Sindh River Urdu سندھ ندی Kashmiri سیندھ Is A River In The Ganderbal District Of Jammu And Kashmir State Of India

Puri, Balraj (November 2010), "The Question of Accession", Epilogue, 4 (11): 5, archived from the original on January 17, 2023 , retrieved May 8, 2020 Sarwali Peak (6326 m) – Highest Peak in Kashmir (AJK) | Pakistan Alpine Institute". Archived from the original on July 10, 2015 . Retrieved June 14, 2015. a b c van Driem, George L. (25 May 2021). Ethnolinguistic Prehistory: The Peopling of the World from the Perspective of Language, Genes and Material Culture. BRILL. p.53. ISBN 978-90-04-44837-7.

Ganai, Muhammad Yousuf (1999), Dogra Raj and the Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir (1932–1947) (PhD thesis), University of Kashmir, hdl: 10603/33268– via Shodhganga Aksai Chin is an arid region divided between India [2] and China, mostly controlled by China as part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang [3] and partly in Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet and constituting the easternmost portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute between India and China since 1959. [1] It is claimed by India as part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory. Ershad, Mahmud (September 1, 2006). "Status of AJK in Political Milieu". Institute of Policy Studies. Archived from the original on May 17, 2023 . Retrieved May 17, 2023. There is a consensus that AJK does not belong to Pakistan geographically yet it is not an independent state either.