Azad (Free) Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)) is that part of Kashmir within Pakistan, separated by a Line of Control from Indian territory. This book is a rarity: it offers a fresh interpretive history of the largely forgotten four million people of Azad Kashmir. The author contends that in October 1947, pro-Pakistan Muslims in south-western J&K instigated the Kashmir dispute-not Pashtun tribesmen invading from Pakistan, as India has consistently claimed. Later called Azad Kashmiris, these people, Snedden argues, are legitimate stakeholders in an unresolved dispute. He provides comprehensive new information that critically examines Azad Kashmir's administration, economy, political system, and its subordinate relationship with Pakistan. Azad Kashmiris considered their administration to be the only legitimate government in J&K and expected that it would rule after J&K was re-unified by a UN-supervised plebiscite. This poll has never been conducted and Azad Kashmir has effectively, if not yet legally, become a (dependent) part of Pakistan. Long disenchanted with Islamabad, some Azad Kashmiris now favour independence for J&K, hoping that they may survive and prosper without recourse to either of their bigger neighbours. Snedden concludes his book by assessing the various proposals to resolve Azad Kashmir's international status and the broader Kashmir dispute.

Azad Jammu & Kashmir: Polity, Politics, and Power-Sharing explores the opportunities and pitfalls of establishing democracy and legitimate governance in territories with disputed status, especially where governance systems are fragile and the process of democratization is hindered due to socio-political fault-lines. Apart from probing the decolonisation process in the Indian subcontinent and its subsequent implications, the analyses in this study, adds clarity to our understanding of the status and sovereignty of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) by using a historical and constitutional perspective; for this purpose, it investigates political and constitutional evolution since 1947. It examines contemporary power-sharing theories and alternatives for the establishment of an autonomous governance structure in order to proceed towards meaningful conflict-management and hence a stable democracy in deeply divided societies, with particular focus on AJK. Javaid Hayat has identified innovative pathways amongst nexuses of sovereignty, autonomy, and democratic governance and has persuasively argued for an alternative model through recognition of internal right to self-determination for building veritable autonomous democratic governance structure in the disputed territory of AJK until an opportunity presents itself for an external right to self-determination as provided to the people of the erstwhile state of J&K, which was promised by the UN and agreed to, by both India and Pakistan.

This book is a result of research undertaken on the subject by the scholars associated with the IDSA project on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) - also known as Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) - which includes both the so-called "Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)" and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). This was legally a part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which acceded to India in October 1947. The authors of this book seek to provide a critical analysis of the politics of the above mentioned two regions within PoK; throw light on the genesis and evolution of various political parties and interest groups, and acquaint the readers with different personalities playing important role in politics therein. The main aim of the publication is to help the scholars, analysts, and policy-makers to understand the dynamics of the political systems in PoK, the complex interaction of these systems with the government in Islamabad and the responses of the local leadership to Pakistan's strategy of keeping them under strict control in the name of representative governance over the last 70 years.

Resisting Occupation in Kashmir considers the social and legal dimensions of India's occupation of Kashmir and the ways in which Kashmiri youth are drawing on the region's history of armed rebellion to reimagine the freedom struggle in the twenty-first century.

Natural resources and associated biological diversity provide the basis of livelihood for human population, particularly in the rural areas and mountain regions across the globe. Asia is home to the world's highest mountain regions including the Himalayas, Karakorum and Hindukush. These regions are renowned around the globe because of their unique beauty, climate, and biocultural diversity. Because of geoclimatic conditions, the mountains of Asia are medicinal and food plant diversity hot spots. The indigenous communities residing in the valleys of these mountains have their own culture and traditions, and have a long history of interaction with the surrounding plant diversity. Local inhabitants of these mountains areas possess significant traditional knowledge of plant species used as food, medicine, and for cultural purposes. So far, many workers have reported traditional uses of plant species from different regions of Asia including some mountain areas; however, there is not one inclusive document on the ethnobotany of mountains in Asia. This book provides a comprehensive overview on ethno-ecological knowledge and cross cultural variation in the application of plant species among various communities residing in the mountains of Asia; cross cultural variation in traditional uses of plant species by the mountain communities; high value medicinal and food plant species; and threats and conservation status of plant species and traditional knowledge. This book should be useful to researchers of biodiversity and conservation, ethnobiologists, ethnoecologists, naturalists, phytochemists, pharmacists, policy makers, and all who have a devotion to nature.

Seventy years ago, as India and Pakistan gained their independence, the region of Jammu & Kashmir also found itself divided, with parts of the territory administered by Pakistan ever since. Located by the volatile Line of Control and caught in the middle of artillery barrages from both ends, Pakistan-administered Kashmir was until over a decade ago one of the most closed-off territories of the world. In a first book of its kind, award-winning Pakistani writer Anam Zakaria travels through Pakistan-administered Kashmir to hear its people - their sufferings, hopes and aspirations. She talks to women and children living near the Line of Control, bearing the brunt of ceasefire violations; journalists and writers braving all odds to document events in remote areas; political and military representatives championing the cause of Kashmir; former militants still committed to the cause; nationalists struggling for a united independent Kashmir; and refugees yearning to reunite with their families on the other side. In the process, Zakaria breaks the silence surrounding a people who are often ignored in discussions on the present and future of Jammu & Kashmir even though they are important stakeholders in what happens in the region. What she unearths during her deeply empathetic journeys is critical to understanding the Kashmir conflict and will surprise and enlighten Indians and Pakistanis alike.

This book provides a fascinating look at the creation of contemporary Muslim jihadists. Basing the book on her long-term fieldwork in the disputed borderlands between Pakistan and India, Cabeiri deBergh Robinson tells the stories of people whose lives and families have been shaped by a long history of political conflict. Interweaving historical and ethnographic evidence, Robinson explains how refuge-seeking has become a socially and politically debased practice in the Kashmir region and why this devaluation has turned refugee men into potential militants. She reveals the fraught social processes by which individuals and families produce and maintain a modern jihad, and she shows how Muslim refugees have forged an Islamic notion of rights—a hybrid of global political ideals that adopts the language of human rights and humanitarianism as a means to rethink refugees’ positions in transnational communities. Jihad is no longer seen as a collective fight for the sovereignty of the Islamic polity, but instead as a personal struggle to establish the security of Muslim bodies against political violence, torture, and rape. Robinson describes how this new understanding has contributed to the popularization of jihad in the Kashmir region, decentered religious institutions as regulators of jihad in practice, and turned the families of refugee youths into the ultimate mediators of entrance into militant organizations. This provocative book challenges the idea that extremism in modern Muslim societies is the natural by-product of a clash of civilizations, of a universal Islamist ideology, or of fundamentalist conversion.

The Kashmir issue is typically cast as a "territorial dispute" between two belligerent neighbors in South Asia. But there is much more to the story than that. The Jammu and Kashmir state, home to an extraordinary medley of races, tribal groups, languages, and religions, makes up one of the most diverse regions in the subcontinent. Demystifying Kashmir argues that recognizing the rich, complex, and multi-faceted character of Kashmir is important not only for understanding the structural causes of this conflict but also for providing opportunities to establish a just, viable, and lasting solution. In this remarkable book, Navnita Chadha Behera traces the history of Kashmir from the pre-partition India to the current-day situation. She provides a comprehensive analysis of the philosophical underpinnings and the local, bilateral, and international dynamics of the key players involved in this flashpoint of conflict, including New Delhi, Islamabad, political groups and militant outfits on both sides of the Line of Control, and international powers. The book explores the political and military components of India's and Pakistan's Kashmir strategy, the self-determination debate, and the insurgent movement that began in 1989. The conclusion focuses on what Behera terms the four P's: parameters, players, politics, and prognosis of the ongoing peace process in Kashmir. Behera also reflects on the devastation of the October 2005 earthquake and its implications for the future of the area. Based on extensive field research and primary sources, Demystifying Kashmir breaks new ground by framing the conflict as a political battle of state-making between India and Pakistan rather than as a rigid and ideological Hindu-Muslim conflict. Behera's work will be an essential guide for journalists, scholars, activists, policymakers, and anyone interested in how to avert a war between these nuclear powers.

Forgotten Kashmir examines the evolution of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) over the past seven decades. It includes major milestones like the 'tribal' invasion in 1947-48, the Sudhan revolt in the 1950s, the Ayub era, the Simla Agreement, the adoption of an 'Interim Constitution of 1974' and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It is not simply a historical account but one that analyses the events in POK against the background of developments in Pakistan's polity to better understand Pakistan's motivations for its policies in the region. The book delves into contentious issues such as the right of self-determination - that is distinct from the concept of plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir which was debated in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). More recently, the Chinese presence in the region has been considered, which is bound to grow with the development of CPEC, which runs through the Northern Areas. The book covers internal developments in that remote area. The author, a seasoned diplomat, provides a wealth of information that comes from his stint in Karachi, involvement in the Jammu and Kashmir issue at the Ministry of External Affairs, discussions in the United Nations, and as a member of bilateral working groups to counter-terrorism with the US, EU, UK, and Canada.

Within Weeks Of The Birth Of Independent India, The Kashmir Valley Was In Flames. Indian Troops Were Fighting Against Invading Pathan Tribesmen Who Sought To Claim The Princely State For Pakistan. These Were The First Sparks In A Conflict Which Remains Unresolved. Attempts To Establish How The Kashmir Dispute First Erupted Have Been Obscured And Impeded By Competing Nationalisms. Retrieving Stories Of Attackers And Survivors, Looters And Looted, Fighters And Civilians, Andrew Whitehead Sets Out To Write A Full And Impartial Account Of How Kashmir Became A Theatre Of War. He Has Gathered A Remarkable Range Of First-Hand Testimonies Of The Most Notorious Episode In The Invasion The Desecration Of A Convent And Mission Hospital In The Riverside Town Of Baramulla-Including One Written By A Missionary Priest And Never Consulted Before. It Provides A Powerful Human Dimension To What Is Often Seen As A Dispute About Territory. In The Process We Come Closer To Resolving Questions That Have For Decades Been The Subject Of Controversy: Who Were The Invaders? Were They Commanded By Pakistan? What Support Did They Get From Local Kashmiris? And Why, When Srinagar Was At Their Mercy, Did They Fail To Capture The Kashmir Capital? Apart From Making Brilliant Use Of Oral History, Andrew Whitehead Has Uncovered Archive Documents Which Challenge Both Indian And Pakistani Accounts Of The Genesis Of The Kashmir Dispute. Also Unearthed Is A Letter From Kashmir S Last Maharaja, Written At The Height Of The Crisis, Requesting Immediate Accession To India. Rigorously Researched And Immensely Readable, This Book Not Only Explains How The Kashmir Conflict Started But Also Why It Has Proved So Difficult To Solve.