Azad Jammu and Kashmir, abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity and constituting the western portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. Azad Kashmir also shares borders with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south and west, respectively. On its eastern side, Azad Kashmir is separated from the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir by the Line of Control (LoC), which serves as the de facto border between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir. Geographically, it covers a total area of 13,297 km2 (5,134 sq mi) and has a total population of 4,045,366 as per the 2017 national census.
Poonch District is a district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. It is one of the 10 districts of this Pakistan-administered territory. It is bounded on the north by Bagh District, on the north-east by Haveli District, on the south-east by the Poonch District of Indian-administered Kashmir, on the south by Azad Kashmir's Sudhanoti and Kotli districts, and on the west by Rawalpindi District of Pakistan's Punjab Province. The Poonch District is part of the greater Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. The district headquarters is the city of Rawalakot. It is the third most populous district of Azad Kashmir.
Ganga Choti is a peak located in Bagh District of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. Located at a height of 3,045 metres (9,990 ft), it is a part of the Pir Panjal Range of the Lower Himalayas. Geographically, it is located between the union council Birpani and Sudhan Gali village.
Jammu & Kashmir Bank Limited is an Indian private sector bank headquartered in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. J&K Bank was incorporated on October 1, 1938, by the then ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh with an initial paid up capital of ₹5.00 Lakh. There is some debate about whether the Maharaja referred to his personal treasury as the bank during its inception. The bank registered a total business turnover of over ₹1750 billion as of March 31, 2021.
Colonel Khan Muhammad Khan was a prominent Sudhan soldier and politician in Poonch, serving in the Legislative Assembly of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir until 1947. Later he served as the Chairman of the War Council during the 1947 Poonch Rebellion.
Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan is an Azad Kashmiri politician and former Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He is a senior member of the Pakistan Muslim League (N).
Hattian Bala District is a district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. The town of Hattian Bala is where the district headquarters are located. The Hattian Bala District was a part of the Muzaffarabad District until 2009 when it was made a separate district.
The economy of Kashmir is largely a developing one. The per capita income and provincial GDP estimates of Azad Kashmir are comparatively underrated when compared with development in other regions of the country, although Azad Kashmir notably has a literacy rate that is substantially above the national average. Azad Kashmir's economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, but also relies on remittances sent each year by the members of the large Kashmiri diaspora. The Kashmiri diaspora in the United Kingdom have contributed greatly to the development of Azad Kashmir through their in-flow of remittances. In the southern districts, many men have been recruited into the Pakistani Armed Forces. Other locals travel to countries in Europe or the Middle East where they work in labour-oriented jobs. The local tourism industry has potential although it is underdeveloped.
The Special Communications Organization (SCO) (Urdu: تنظیم برائے مواصلاتِ مخصوصہ) is Pakistani public sector organization operated by MoIT&T. SCO plays a role in providing telecommunication services in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan to almost 1.7 million people, a quarter of the total population.
Alibeg, also spelt Ali Beg and Ali Baig, previously called Kirtan Ghar, is a village in the Bhimber District of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. It is on the bank of the Upper Jhelum Canal. It is the seventh-largest village of Azad Kashmir with a population of almost five thousand people. Most of the people are educated in the village.
The Azad Kashmir Police or Azad Jammu and Kashmir Police (AJKP) is responsible for law enforcement in the Azad Kashmir region administered by Pakistan. It is headed by Inspector-General of Police, Amir Ahmed Sheikh (PSP), and headquartered in the Central Police Office (CPO) Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir.
The Government of Azad Kashmir is the state government which administers one of the territories of Pakistani-administered Kashmir territories of Azad Kashmir. The Azad Kashmir government consists of a president as head of state and a prime minister as chief executive, with the support of a council of ministers. The state assembly is the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly.
The Ministry of Kashmir Affairs & Gilgit-Baltistan is a ministry of the Government of Pakistan. It handles the regional affairs of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan as both territories of Pakistani-administered Kashmir do not have regular provincial status within Pakistan due to political circumstances revolving around the long-running Kashmir conflict.
The Supreme Court of Azad Jammu & Kashmir is the highest court of appeal in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It consists of a Chief Justice and two other Judges.
Kashmiris in Azad Kashmir are the ethnic Kashmiri people who reside in Azad Kashmir, a territory which constitutes part of Pakistani-administered Kashmir since the end of the First Kashmir War. Their demographic includes up to 40,000 registered Kashmiri refugees who have fled the Kashmir Valley, located in Indian-administered Kashmir, to Pakistan since the late 1980s due to conflict in the region. As of 2010, only around 60 percent of Kashmiri refugees had acquired Pakistani citizenship.
Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi is a Kashmiri politician from Azad Jammu and Kashmir who was the 13th Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir from August 2021 to April 2022. He has been a member of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative assembly since August 2021. He has been the president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Azad Jammu and Kashmir chapter since April 2023.
The Interim Constitution of Azad Jammu and Kashmir provides for an apparently transitory autonomous parliamentary framework of self-governance and power sharing for the region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, defined by the act as the "territories of the State of Jammu and Kashmir which have been liberated by the people of that State and for the time being under the administration of Government and such other territories as may hereafter come under its administration", however it does not pertain to areas such as Gilgit, Hunza and Baltistan. The act succeeded and re-enacted the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Government Act, 1970 with modifications. It was promulgated under the Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The constitution has been amended 14 times. It is based on the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.
Sardar Muahmmad Tanveer Ilyas Khan is a Pakistani businessman-turned-politician who was the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir from April 2022 to April 2023, and was the president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Azad Kashmir from September 2021 to April 2023.
Rs. 28.4 billion (US$98 million) [2] Q3 FY22
