Azad Kashmir: Difference between revisions

{{About|the Pakistani administrative territory||Kashmir (disambiguation)}}

{{pp|small=yes}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox settlement

| name              = Azad Jammu and Kashmir

| settlement_type    = Administered by [[Pakistan]] as a [[Administrative units of Pakistan|self-administrative territory]]

| image_flag        =  

| image_seal        =  

| coordinates        = {{Coord|33|50|36|N|73|51|05|E|type:adm1st_region:PK_dim:1000000|display=inline,title}}

| image_skyline      = {{Photomontage

| foot_montage = Top: [[Arang Kel]]<br/>Middle: Shounter Valley<br/>Bottom: A map of the disputed [[Kashmir]] region with the two Pakistan-administered areas shaded in [[sage (color)|sage]]-green.<ref name=tertiary-kashmir/>

}}

| subdivision_type  = Administered by

| subdivision_name  = [[Pakistan]]

| subdivision_type2  =  

| seat              = [[Muzaffarabad]]

| government_footnotes =  

| governing_body    = [[Government of Azad Kashmir]]

| leader_party      =  

| leader_title      = [[President of Azad Kashmir|President]]

| leader_title1      = [[Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir|Prime Minister]]

| leader_title2      = [[Chief Secretary (Pakistan)|Chief Secretary]]

| leader_name2      = Dawood Muhammad Barech [[Pakistan Administrative Service|(BPS-21 PAS)]]

| population_as_of  = [[2017 Pakistani census|2017 census]]

| population_footnotes = <ref name=AJK2020>{{citation |title=Azad Jammu & Kashmir at a Glance – 2020|year=2020|url=https://pndajk.gov.pk/uploadfiles/downloads/AJK%20At%20A%20Glance-2020.pdf|work=Bureau of Statistics, Planning and Development Department, [[Government of Azad Kashmir]]|access-date=26 July 2024 |page=4,19}}</ref>

| population_demonym = Azad Kashmiri

| population_note    =  

| area_code_type    =  

| iso_code          = [[ISO 3166-2:PK|PK-AJK]]

| blank1_name_sec2  = [[Divisions of Pakistan#Administered territories|Divisions]]

| blank1_info_sec2  = 3

}}

* {{cite book |first1=Richard M. |last1=Bird |first2=François |last2=Vaillancourt |title=Fiscal Decentralization in Developing Countries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_wraZ5HEMasC&pg=PA127 |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-10158-5 |pages=127ff |access-date=15 November 2015 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117135716/https://books.google.com/books?id=_wraZ5HEMasC&pg=PA127 |url-status=live }}

* {{cite book |last=Bose |first=Sumantra |author-link=Sumantra Bose |title=Contested Lands |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KKZcgOJPjVkC&pg=PA193 |date=2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02856-2 |page=193 |quote=Azad Kashmir – 'Free Kashmir', the more populated and nominally self-governing part of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir |access-date=21 December 2016 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117135716/https://books.google.com/books?id=KKZcgOJPjVkC&pg=PA193 |url-status=live }}

{{ordered list|type=lower-alpha| {{citation|title=Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kashmir-region-Indian-subcontinent|accessdate=15 August 2019|archive-date=13 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813203817/https://www.britannica.com/place/Kashmir-region-Indian-subcontinent|url-status=live |url-access=subscription |quote=Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent&nbsp;... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories.}}| {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Pletcher|first1=Kenneth|title=Aksai Chin, Plateau Region, Asia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Aksai-Chin|accessdate=16 August 2019|archive-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402090308/https://www.britannica.com/place/Aksai-Chin|url-status=live |url-access=subscription |quote=Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir state.}}| {{cite encyclopedia|title=Kashmir|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Americana|publisher=Scholastic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l_cWAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA328|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7172-0139-6|page=328|access-date=20 September 2019|archive-date=17 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117135716/https://books.google.com/books?id=l_cWAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA328|url-status=live |first=C. E. |last=Bosworth |quote=KASHMIR, kash'mer, the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, administered partly by India, partly by Pakistan, and partly by China. The region has been the subject of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947}}|{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Osmańczyk|first1=Edmund Jan|title=Jammu and Kashmir |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements |volume=G to M|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fSIMXHMdfkkC&pg=PA1191|year=2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-93922-5|pages=1191ff|access-date=12 June 2023|archive-date=17 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117140437/https://books.google.com/books?id=fSIMXHMdfkkC&pg=PA1191|url-status=live|quote=Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China.}}| {{cite book|last=Talbot|first=Ian|title=A History of Modern South Asia: Politics, States, Diasporas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNg_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|year=2016|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-19694-8|pages=28–29|quote=We move from a disputed international border to a dotted line on the map that represents a military border not recognized in international law. The line of control separates the Indian and Pakistani administered areas of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir.}}| {{cite encyclopedia|last=Skutsch|first=Carl|editor-last=Ciment|editor-first=James|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II|edition=2nd|year=2015|orig-year=2007|isbn=978-0-7656-8005-1|title=China: Border War with India, 1962|location=London and New York|publisher=Routledge|page=573|quote=The situation between the two nations was complicated by the 1957–1959 uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule.  Refugees poured across the Indian border, and the Indian public was outraged. Any compromise with China on the border issue became impossible.  Similarly, China was offended that India had given political asylum to the Dalai Lama when he fled across the border in March 1959. In late 1959, there were shots fired between border patrols operating along both the ill-defined McMahon Line and in the Aksai Chin.}}| {{cite book|last=Clary|first=Christopher|year=2022|title=The Difficult Politics of Peace: Rivalry in Modern South Asia|publisher=Oxford University Press|location = Oxford and New York|isbn=9780197638408|page=109|quote=Territorial Dispute: The situation along the Sino-Indian frontier continued to worsen.  In late July (1959), an Indian reconnaissance patrol was blocked, 'apprehended', and eventually expelled after three weeks in custody at the hands of a larger Chinese force near Khurnak Fort in Aksai Chin.&nbsp;... Circumstances worsened further in October 1959, when a major class at Kongka Pass in eastern Ladakh led to nine dead and ten captured Indian border personnel, making it by far the most serious Sino-Indian class since India's independence.}}| {{cite book|last=Bose|first=Sumantra|title=Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ACMe9WBdNAC&pg=PA294|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-02855-5|pages=294, 291, 293|quote=J&K: Jammu and Kashmir. The former princely state that is the subject of the Kashmir dispute. Besides IJK (Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. The larger and more populous part of the former princely state. It has a population of slightly over 10 million, and comprises three regions: Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh.) and AJK ('Azad' (Free) Jammu and Kashmir. The more populous part of Pakistani-controlled J&K, with a population of approximately 2.5 million.), it includes the sparsely populated 'Northern Areas' of Gilgit and Baltistan, remote mountainous regions which are directly administered, unlike AJK, by the Pakistani central authorities, and some high-altitude uninhabitable tracts under Chinese control.}}| {{cite book|last=Fisher|first=Michael H.|title=An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZVuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166|year=2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-11162-2|page=166|quote=Kashmir's identity remains hotly disputed with a UN-supervised 'Line of Control' still separating Pakistani-held Azad ('Free') Kashmir from Indian-held Kashmir.}} | {{cite book|last=Snedden|first=Christopher|title=Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5amKCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-1-84904-621-3|page=10|quote=Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'.}}}}</ref> On its eastern side, Azad Kashmir is separated from the [[Indian-administered Kashmir|Indian–administered territory]] of [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]] by the [[Line of Control|Line of Control (LoC)]], which serves as the ''[[de facto]]'' border between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir. Azad Kashmir borders with the Pakistani–administered [[Gilgit–Baltistan]] to the north; it shares borders with the Pakistani provinces of [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]] and [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] to the south and west, respectively.  Geographically, it covers a total area of {{convert|13297|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} and has a total population of over 4.045 million as per the [[2017 Census of Pakistan|2017 national census]].

The territory has a parliamentary form of government modelled after the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Westminster system]], with the city of [[Muzaffarabad]] serving as its [[Capital city|capital]]. The [[President of Azad Kashmir|President of AJK]] is the constitutional [[head of state]], while the [[Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir|Prime Minister]], supported by a [[Council of Ministers]], is the chief executive. The unicameral [[Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly|Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly]] elects both the Prime Minister and President. The territory has its own [[Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir|Supreme Court]] and a [[High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir|High Court]], while the [[Government of Pakistan]]'s [[Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan]] serves as a link between itself and Azad Jammu and Kashmir's government, although the autonomous territory is not represented in the [[Parliament of Pakistan]].

==Name==

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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indiatogether.org/peace/kashmir/intro.htm |title=The J&K conflict: A Chronological Introduction |publisher=India Together |access-date=5 June 2010 |archive-date=4 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404153406/http://indiatogether.org/peace/kashmir/intro.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name = britannica>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Britannica Concise Encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/312908/Kashmir |title=Kashmir (region, Indian subcontinent)&nbsp;– Britannica Online Encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=5 June 2010 |archive-date=1 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301205100/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/312908/Kashmir |url-status=live }}</ref> Muslims in the western districts of the Jammu province (current day Azad Kashmir) and in the Frontier Districts province (current day [[Gilgit-Baltistan]]) had wanted to join [[Pakistan]].{{sfn|Snedden|2013|loc =p. 14: "Similarly, Muslims in Western Jammu Province, particularly in Poonch, many of whom had martial capabilities, and Muslims in the Frontier Districts Province strongly wanted J&K to join Pakistan."}}

On 21 October, several thousand [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] tribesmen from [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955)|North-West Frontier Province]] poured into Jammu and Kashmir to help with the rebellion against the maharaja's rule. They were led by experienced military leaders and were equipped with modern arms. The maharaja's crumbling forces were unable to withstand the onslaught. The tribesmen captured the towns of Muzaffarabad and [[Baramulla]], the latter of which is {{convert|20|mi|km|order=flip}} northwest of the state capital [[Srinagar]]. On 24 October, the Maharaja requested military assistance from India, which responded that it was unable to help him unless he acceded to India. Accordingly, on 26 October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh signed an [[Instrument of Accession (Jammu and Kashmir)|Instrument of Accession]], handing over control of defence, external affairs, and communications to the Government of India in return for military aid.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/10537286|title=Kashmir: Why India and Pakistan fight over it|date=23 November 2016|work=BBC News|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224045738/https://www.bbc.com/news/10537286|url-status=live}}</ref> Indian troops were immediately airlifted into Srinagar.{{sfn|Bose|2003|pp=35–36}} Pakistan intervened subsequently.<ref name = britannica /> Fighting ensued between the Indian and Pakistani armies, with the two areas of control more or less stabilised around what is now known as the "[[Line of Control]]".<ref>

[[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]], then Prime-Minister of Pakistan, with some local support imposed the '[[Interim Constitution of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (1974)|Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act, 1974]]’ (Interim till the Kashmir dispute was resolved with India). It allowed AJK a directly elected [[Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly|AJK Legislative Assembly]], and a smaller indirectly elected [[Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council]] in Islamabad. This arrangement reduced the power of the MKA, however Snedden referred to it as a "diminution."<ref name="Cambridge University Press-2018"/>{{Rp|pages=121–122}}

The Constitution provides Kashmir its own [[President of Azad Kashmir|President]], [[Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir|Prime-Minister]], [[High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir|High Court]], [[Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir|Supreme Court]], Auditor General and Chief Election Commissioner as well.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ali |first1=Shaheen Sardar |last2=Rehman |first2=Javaid |date=1 February 2013 |title=Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Minorities of Pakistan: Constitutional and Legal Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=60VAsoo-huYC |journal=[[Nordic Institute of Asian Studies]] |issue=Monograph Series No. 84 |pages=121 |isbn=978-1-136-77868-1 |via=[[Routledge]] Curzon}}</ref> The 13th Amendment to the AJK Constitution, passed in [[Muzaffarabad]] empowered the AJK government, increased the powers of the elected assembly, granted Azad Kashmir greater financial and administrative powers and sought to make the federal territory more autonomous. The word "Act" was also deleted from the Constitution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Act 1974: AJK approves 13th Amendment |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/325050-act-1974-ajk-approves-13th-amendment |access-date=16 May 2024 |website=www.thenews.com.pk |language=en}}</ref>

==Government and politics==

{{See also|Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly|Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir|Interim Constitution of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (1974)}}

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is nominally a self-governing state,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ershad |first=Mahmud |date=1 September 2006 |title=Status of AJK in Political Milieu |url=https://www.ips.org.pk/status-of-ajk-in-political-milieu/ |access-date=17 May 2023 |website=Institute of Policy Studies |language=en-US |quote=There is a consensus that AJK does not belong to Pakistan geographically yet it is not an independent state either. |archive-date=17 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517074017/https://www.ips.org.pk/status-of-ajk-in-political-milieu/ |url-status=live }}</ref> but ever since the 1949 ceasefire between Indian and Pakistani forces, Pakistan has exercised control over the state without incorporating it into Pakistan.<ref name="brit">{{cite web | url = https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/46696/Azad-Kashmir | title = Azad Kashmir | website = Encyclopædia Britannica | access-date = 14 November 2019 | archive-date = 18 May 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518091415/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/46696/Azad-Kashmir | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="ajk144">{{cite web|url=http://www.ajk.gov.pk/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2257&Itemid=144|title=Azad Jammu and Kashmir&nbsp;– Introduction|access-date=22 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927000235/http://www.ajk.gov.pk/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2257&Itemid=144|archive-date=27 September 2007}}

Azad Kashmir's budget and tax affairs, are dealt with by the [[Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council]] rather than by Pakistan's Central Board of Revenue. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council is a supreme body consisting of 14 members, 8 from the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 6 from the government of Pakistan. Its chairman/chief executive is the prime minister of Pakistan. Other members of the council are the president and the prime minister of Azad Kashmir (or an individual nominated by her/him) and 6 members of the AJK Legislative Assembly.<ref name="ajk.gov.pk"/><ref name="ajk144" /> Azad Kashmir Day is celebrated in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on 24 October, which is the day that the Azad Jammu and Kashmir government was created in 1947. Pakistan has celebrated [[Kashmir Solidarity Day]] on 5 February of each year since 1990 as a day of protest against [[India]]'s  sovereignty over its State of [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/05/stories/2007020503731300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070207021404/http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/05/stories/2007020503731300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 February 2007|title=Pakistan to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day today|date=5 February 2007|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=5 February 2008}}

[[Brad Adams]], the Asia director at the U.S.-based [[NGO]] [[Human Rights Watch]] said in 2006: "Although 'azad' means 'free,' the residents of Azad Kashmir are anything but; the Pakistani authorities govern the Azad Kashmir government with tight controls on basic freedoms."<ref name="Adams">{{cite web|last=Adams|first=Brad|title=Pakistan: 'Free Kashmir' Far From Free|date=22 September 2006|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2006/09/20/pakistan-free-kashmir-far-free|publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=5 February 2017|archive-date=14 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314000110/http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/09/20/pakistan-free-kashmir-far-free|url-status=live}}</ref> Scholar [[Christopher Snedden]] has observed that despite tight controls, the people of Azad Kashmir have generally accepted whatever Pakistan has done to them, which in any case has varied little from how most Pakistanis have been treated (by Pakistan). According to [[Christopher Snedden]], one of the reasons for this was that the people of Azad Kashmir had always wanted to be part of Pakistan.<ref name="Snedden 2013">{{harvnb|Snedden|2013|loc=p. 93: "Second, Azad Kashmiris had always wanted to be part of this nation."}}</ref>

Consequently, having little to fear from a pro-Pakistan population devoid of options,<ref name="Snedden 2013"/> Pakistan imposed its will through the Federal [[Ministry of Kashmir Affairs (Pakistan)|Ministry of Kashmir Affairs]] and failed to empower the people of Azad Kashmir, allowing genuine self-government for only a short period in the 1970s. According to the interim constitution that was drawn up in the 1970s, the only political parties that are allowed to exist are those that pay allegiance to Pakistan: "No person or political party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted... activities prejudicial or detrimental to the State's accession to Pakistan."<ref name="Snedden 2013"/> The pro-independence [[Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front]] has never been allowed to contest elections in Azad Kashmir.{{sfn|Bose|2003|p=100}} While the interim constitution does not give them a choice, the people of Azad Kashmir have not considered any option other than joining Pakistan.<ref name="Snedden 2013"/> Except in a legal sense, Azad Kashmir has been fully integrated into Pakistan.<ref name="Snedden 2013"/>

===Development project===

===Religion===

The followers of the [[Ahmadi]] faith are estimated to be somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000, and most of them live in Kotli, Mirpur, Bhimber, and Muzaffarabad.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://asianlite.com/news/asia-diaspora-news/the-plight-of-minorities-in-azad-kashmir/ |title=The Plight of Minorities in 'Azad Kashmir' |work=Asian News from UK - Leading Newspaper for Politics, Business & Economy |publisher=Asianlite.com |date=14 January 2019 |access-date=6 April 2020 |archive-date=15 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415171357/https://asianlite.com/news/asia-diaspora-news/the-plight-of-minorities-in-azad-kashmir/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

! colspan="2" |1941<ref name="Census1941">{{cite web|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/saoa.crl.28215644 |jstor=saoa.crl.28215644 |access-date=3 November 2024 |title=Census of India, 1941. Vol. 22, Jammu & Kashmir |year=1941 |pages=337–352 |author1=India Census Commissioner |volume=22 }}</ref>

|-

!{{Abbr|%|percentage}}

!{{abbr|Pop.|Population}}

| value4 = 8

}}

Another major language of Azad Kashmir is [[Gujari language|Gujari]]. It is spoken by several hundred thousand<ref group="note">{{harvtxt|Hallberg|O'Leary|1992|p=96}} report two rough estimates for the total population of Gujari speakers in Azad Kashmir: 200,000 and 700,000, both from the 1980s.</ref> people among the traditionally nomadic [[Gujars]], many of whom are nowadays settled. Not all ethnic Gujars speak Gujari, the proportion of those who have shifted to other languages is probably higher in southern Azad Kashmir.{{sfn|Hallberg|O'Leary|1992|pp=96, 98, 100}} Gujari is most closely related to the [[Rajasthani languages]] (particularly [[Mewati language|Mewati]]), although it also shares features with Punjabi.{{sfn|Hallberg|O'Leary|1992|pp=93–94}} It is dispersed over large areas in northern Pakistan and India. Within Pakistan, the Gujari dialects of Azad Kashmir are more similar, in terms of shared basic vocabulary and mutual intelligibility, to the Gujar varieties of the neighbouring [[Hazara region (Pakistan)|Hazara region]] than to the dialects spoken further to the northwest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and north in [[Gilgit District|Gilgit]].{{sfn|Hallberg|O'Leary|1992|pp=111–12, 126}}

</ref>

[[File:People having Fun at Munda Gali Leepa AJK.jpg|thumbnail|Munda Gali, [[Leepa Valley]]]]

In addition to agriculture, textiles, and arts and crafts, remittances have played a major role in the economy of Azad Kashmir. One analyst estimated that the figure for Azad Kashmir was 25.1% in 2001. With regard to annual household income, people living in the higher areas are more dependent on remittances than are those living in the lower areas.<ref>

==Sports==

==Culture==