The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat Kashmir is slowly being gobbled up by India by ethinic cleansing and population transfer from the rest of India to Kashmir. Pakistan’s options are limited in terms of taking it back from India through an open armed conflict given the disparity between the two countries in terms of economy and resources. Pakistan can only play a long game by improving its economy, get richer, have good relations with richer/influential nations and wait for the Kashmiris to fight for their right of self determination .  Pakistan has made some good progress in terms of constitutional clarity for the people of Gilgit Balistan and Azad Kashmir both of which are effectively now fifth and sixth provinces of Pakistan. Azad Kashmir is now a semi autonomous region with its own President ( Masood Khan ) , Prime Minister ( Raja Farooq Haider Khan ) and Supreme Court. Azad Kashmir has its own constitution to provide international clarity in terms of status of Indian occupied Kashmir vis ...

Former chief justice of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court has sought provincial status for the two disputed territories of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). Justice (retd) Manzoor Hussain Gilani, chairman of the Association for the Rights of People of Jammu and Kashmir, told  The Express Tribune that both G-B and AJK are parts of the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, under control of Pakistan. He said the present de-facto provincial arrangements in G-B and AJK need to be formalised in the Constitution. The lack of this formalisation has hampered the commitment of the Pakistani government, and retarded democratic growth of the areas, while denying them their legitimised status under the country’s constitution, he stressed. “Both territories need similar, simultaneous constitutional reforms to be empowered as ‘special territories of Pakistan akin to provinces’, with representation in all policy and decision-making institutions under...

By Sikander Hayat Indian army has today fired shells on Pakistani army in the Shakargarh region and has injured 2 Pakistani soldiers.  As usual both sides have blamed each other for starting the firing. BJP is trying to form government in Indian Administered Kashmir and this could be a ploy to concentrate minds in PDP camp. This is not a new tactic and has been deployed in the past. At the moment BJP is fighting hard to not only be part of government in Kashmir but have the post of chief minister at least on the rotation basis. BJP does not have a single seat in the Kashmir Valley & Ladakh as both of these areas are Muslim majority. All of BJP's 25 seats have come from Jammu which has a Hindu majority. BJP's hindutwa politics have worked their magic in Kashmir and have divided the state on religious level by making Kashmir & Ladaakh voting for Muslim candidates & Jammu entirely going for Hindu candidates. Few years ago Pervez Musharaf forwarded an ...

India has drawn inspiration from the wall coming up on the West Bank and the Berlin Wall that symbolised Cold War to plan a 10-metre high embankment along the 198-km stretch of international border that separates Jammu from Pakistan , reported Indian media on Saturday. The security wall is being erected to keep ‘infiltrators’ out, claimed the media. The wall will be higher and wider than both the Berlin Wall and the serpentine barrier that Tel Aviv is creating. It will be 135 feet wide and pass through 118 villages in the districts of Jammu (72), Kathua (17) and Samba (29). Although there is no official estimate yet on the total cost, the Indian home ministry will fund the project, which will be handled by the Indian Border Security Force . The project spells revival of an idea mooted a few years ago after an attack on the police and army by two armed men. Instead of brick and mortar that went into the making of the walls in Berlin and Israel , the proposed embankment will u...

Mirpur is an important city in the Pakistani province of Azad Kashmir . It is most famous for its émigré community which has mostly emigrated to United Kingdom & to some extent to Norway . Mirpur, Azad Kashmir has strong ties with various cities in UK, especially Bradford in Yorkshire County . Initially emigrants from Mirpur were not very well educated but new emigrants mostly have high school diplomas and a sizable percentage has a university degree. Mirpur diaspora has kept strong links with the home country of Azad Kashmir in Pakistan and due to their extreme lobbying; Pakistani government is now building an international airport in Mirpur. Once this airport is complete, the connection between the current generation of diaspora Mirpuris and the homeland of their forefathers will become even stronger. This will also encourage cultural exchange and improve bilateral understanding. Mirpur is known for its grand buildings and large bungalow-houses. The production of elec...

By Sikander Hayat Skardu is located in the Skardu Valley at the confluence of the Indus River and the Shigar River . Skardu is situated at an altitude of nearly 2,500 m. The town is surrounded by grey-brown coloured mountains, which hide the 8,000 metre peaks of the nearby Karakoram Range. Skardu, along with Gilgit, are the two major tourism, trekking and expedition hubs in Gilgit Baltistan . The mountainous terrain of the region, including four of the world's fourteen (8,000 m and above) peaks, attracts the attention of tourists, trekkers and mountaineers from around the world. The main tourist season is from April to October; except this time period, the area can be cut off for extended periods by the snowy, freezing winter weather. Accessible from Skardu by road, the nearby Askole and Hushe are the main gateways to the snow covered 8,000 m peaks including K2, the Gasherbrums, Broad Peak and the Trango Towers, and also to the huge glaciers of Baltoro, Biafo and Trango. T...

T he Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government on Thursday announced it would hold the long due local bodies (LB) polls on party basis in April next year. However, critics in opposition as well as within the ruling People’s Party were sceptical about the seriousness of the government in this regard, recalling a similar two-year old proclamation. “The People’s Party government has decided to hold local bodies elections after 22 years under the previous (LB) system in order to transfer powers at the grassroots level and solidity of democracy and democratic institutions,” said Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin , AJK’s senior minister for local government and rural development (LG&RD). “The local governments coming into existence as a result of LB polls will address concerns of people regarding civic amenities without any delay besides serving as nurseries for democracy,” he said. The last LB polls were held in AJK in 1991 during the Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan led Muslim Conference gov...

By Sikander Hayat Azad Kashmir borders the Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir to the east Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province to the west, Gilgit Baltistan to the north, and Pakistan's Punjab Province to the south. With its capital at Muzaffarabad , Azad Jammu and Kashmir covers an area of 13,297 square kilometres (5,134 sq mi) and has an estimated population of about four million. In October 1947, Azad Kashmir was liberated from India. 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. Pakistan has celebrated Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5 of each year since 1990 as a day of protest against India 's de facto sovereignty over its State of Jammu and Kashmir .That day is a national holiday in Pakistan. Azad Jammu and Kashmir is predominantly Muslim. The majority of the population is culturally, linguistically, and ethnically related to the people o...