Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) is that part of Jammu and Kashmir, which was illegally occupied by Pakistan during its invasion of the erstwhile princely state during 1947 and subsequently in 1965 and 1971. These are areas like Bhimber, Mirpur, Kotli, Muzaffarabad, Deva Batala, Gilgit, Baltistan, and parts of Poonch that fell to the Pakistani invasion.

History of the accession of J&K to India

Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state, ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh of the Dogra dynasty  and was spread in a geographical area spanning approximately 2,22,236 sq. km. Before India gained independence, the British ruled India and used two types of administrative arrangements to govern the country viz. ‘British India’ and the ‘Princely States’. British India was directly governed by the British Crown whereas the princely states were ruled by their respective rulers under the suzerainty of the British Crown. When Bharat was set to attain independence in 1947, British India was divided on the basis of a communal award and a new country ‘Pakistan’ was carved out of British India. At the same time, the rulers of the princely states were given complete freedom to choose the fate of their states by acceding either to India or to Pakistan.

A common framework was developed by India, for this purpose in the form of an ‘Instrument of Accession’ (IoA) that had to be signed by the rulers and ratified by the then Governor-General of India Lord Mountbatten. Jammu and Kashmir was one of those princely states, whose rulers had to make a choice between India and Pakistan, and his decision would be final and binding in the matter of accession. Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir signed the IoA in favour of India on October 26, 1947 and the then Governor General ratified it the next day. Hence, the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir became an integral part of India.

Pakistani invasion and the illegal occupation of parts of J&K

However, before the instrument of accession could have been signed in favour of India, Pakistan invaded Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani mercenaries killed thousands of men, women and children mercilessly. The innocent people who couldn’t run away were murdered in a gruesome fashion. Thousands of men and children were killed while females were raped in this onslaught. Lakhs of people had to flee their homes to save their own lives. As per eyewitness accounts, in Mirpur itself, around 18,000 people, out of the total population of 25,000 of the village, were brutally killed and around 3,500 were seriously injured in the carnage that lasted for three days i.e. 25, 26 and 27 November, 1947. According to some estimates, around 70-80% of the population was brutally murdered by the Pakistani uniformed invaders.

The entire preparation for this operation was done in Abbottabad. Pakistani army men and around 5000 tribals waged a war against the people of POJK. They were led by Maj Gen Akbar Khan, who went by the name “Gen Tariq”, of the Pakistan Army. The onslaught on these innocent people was perpetuated by the Pakistani army, which had infiltrated into J&K and had managed to usurp a major portion of it. The affected areas of J&K were Bhimber, Mirpur, Kotli, Muzaffarabad, Deva Batala, Gilgit, Baltistan, and the parts of Poonch that fell to Pakistan and they are now collectively called POJK. Currently, India has only 1,01,387 sq.km. of the land of this territory with it and the rest of the area is illegally occupied by Pakistan and China. Around 78,114 sq.kms. of Jammu and Kashmir is under the illegal occupation of Pakistan. 

Pakistan divided POJK into two parts

In 1970, Pakistan divided the areas of Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) into two parts viz. Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (Northern Areas). It is essential to note here that only Pakistan calls it AJK. Azadi (freedom) as such is not there and this absence of freedom in the region is affirmed by international law as well. Gilgit-Baltistan was an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir but Pakistan has made an attempt to depict it as a separate region from Jammu and Kashmir, by using the nomenclature ‘Northern Areas’. These two regions are created only to misguide national and international agencies and divert attention from the illegality of the occupation of Pakistan.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir is a self-governing State under the control of Pakistan with a President, Prime Minister and a Legislative Assembly whereas the Northern Areas that include Gilgit and Baltistan regions have been transformed into an autonomous self-governing body under Pakistani control called Gilgit-Baltistan. Gilgit-Baltistan has a Governor appointed by Islamabad and a Chief Minister. Both regions are facing enormous hardship and have suffered exploitation at the hands of Pakistan. For more than six decades, POJK has borne the brunt of sectarian violence, a lack of development of civic infrastructure and amenities, denial of fundamental rights and oppression by the Islamabad based polity. Democratic voices are crushed ruthlessly by Pakistan and political rights are denied to the people of these two regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Frequent Shia-Sunni conflicts are also reported from Gilgit-Baltistan and extreme measures are used against the Shia community. There is a sustained and systematic campaign for disturbing the demographic order of this region by encouraging large scale migration from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Surprisingly, the gross violation in POJK is never discussed in the national and international arenas. Even the UN does not bother to look into the plight of the hapless people from this region.