Muzaffarabad Division

Muzaffarabad Division مظفرآباد ڈویژن
Division of Azad Kashmir administered by Pakistan^[1]
Interactive map of Muzaffarabad division
A map showing Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir (shaded in sage green) in the disputed Kashmir region^[1]
Coordinates (Muzaffarabad): 34°34′N 73°48′E / 34.567°N 73.800°E / 34.567; 73.800
Administering country	Pakistan
Territory	Azad Kashmir
Capital	Muzaffarabad
Government
• Type	Divisional Administration
• Commissioner	Adnan Khurshid BPS-20(PAS)
• Regional Police Officer	Irfan Masood Kashfi BPS-20(PSP)
Population (2017)
• Total	1,072,150

The Muzaffarabad Division (Urdu: مُظفّر آباد ڈِوِژن) is a first-order administrative division of the Pakistani–administered territory of Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir.^[1] It comprises the portion of the former Muzaffarabad District of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that came under Pakistani control at the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. Areas wise it is a largest division of Azad Kashmir compared to Mirpur and Poonch divisions.

Social groups

Gujjar is a major ethnic in Muzaffarabad division.^[2] Gurjars make up roughly 30.54% of the total population of Muzaffarabad division, with a population of 3,27,439.^[3]^[a] Other ethnic groups found in the division are Sayeds, Rajgan, Mughal, Kashmiris and Rajput.^[2]

Language

Main language spoken in Muzaffarabad division are Gujari and Pahari. Gujari is the language of 30.54% population of the division it is mainly spoken by 35% in Muzaffarabad and Hattian Bala districts and 10% by the Gujjar population in Neelum District.^[3] Other languages including Kashmiri, Urdu, Hindko, Punjabi and Dogri also spoken.^[2]^[4]

Districts

District	Area (km²)	Pop. (2017)	Density (ppl/km²) (2017)
Muzaffarabad District	1,642	650,370	394
Hattian Bala District	854	230,529	270
Neelam District	3,621	191,251	53

References

1 2 3 The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary sources (a) through (e), reflecting due weight in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (h) through (i) below, "held" is also considered politicized usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (j) below).
(a) Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 15 August 2019 (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... 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.";
(b) Pletcher, Kenneth, Aksai Chin, Plateau Region, Asia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 16 August 2019 (subscription required) 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.";
(c) "Kashmir", Encyclopedia Americana, Scholastic Library Publishing, 2006, p. 328, ISBN 978-0-7172-0139-6 C. E Bosworth, University of Manchester 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";
(d) Osmańczyk, Edmund Jan (2003), Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: G to M, Taylor & Francis, pp. 1191–, ISBN 978-0-415-93922-5 Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China."
(e) Talbot, Ian (2016), A History of Modern South Asia: Politics, States, Diasporas, Yale University Press, pp. 28–29, ISBN 978-0-300-19694-8 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.";
(f) Skutsch, Carl (2015) [2007], "China: Border War with India, 1962", in Ciment, James (ed.), Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II (2nd ed.), London and New York: Routledge, p. 573, ISBN 978-0-7656-8005-1, 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.
(g) Clary, Christopher (2022), The Difficult Politics of Peace: Rivalry in Modern South Asia, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, p. 109, ISBN 9780197638408, 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. ... 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.
(h) Bose, Sumantra (2009), Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, Harvard University Press, pp. 294, 291, 293, ISBN 978-0-674-02855-5 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."
(i) Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 166, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2 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.";
(j) Snedden, Christopher (2015), Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris, Oxford University Press, p. 10, ISBN 978-1-84904-621-3 Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'."
1 2 3 Gillani, Syed Waseem; Ahmad, Mushtaq; Manzoor, Muhammad; Waheed, Muhammad; Iqbal, Zafar; Ullah, Riaz; Pieroni, Andrea; Zhang, Lixin; Sulaiman, Naji; Alrhmoun, Mousaab (2024-08-18). "The nexus between ecology of foraging and food security: cross-cultural perceptions of wild food plants in Kashmir Himalaya". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 20 (1): 77. doi:10.1186/s13002-024-00721-9. ISSN 1746-4269. PMC 11330618. PMID 39155383. (Gujar is a major tribe) Gujjar tribes are distributed through-out the region, with the Syed and Rajgan tribes being the most influential ethnic groups in Division Muzafarabad, Azad Kashmir.
1 2 Government, of Azad Kashmir. Statistical Year Book 2020 (PDF). Muzaffarabad: AJ&K Bureau Of Statistics. p. 140. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
↑ Shakil, Mohsin. "Languages of Erstwhile State of Jammu Kashmir (A Preliminary Study)". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
↑ "AZAD JAMMU & KASHMIR AT A GLANCE 2014" (PDF). pndajk.gov.pk. Planning & Development Department AJ&K. p. 8. Retrieved 17 November 2024.

v t e Divisions of Pakistan
Balochistan	Kalat Loralai Makran Nasirabad Quetta Rakhshan Sibi Zhob
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	Bannu Dera Ismail Khan Hazara Kohat Malakand Mardan Peshawar
Punjab	Bahawalpur Dera Ghazi Khan Faisalabad Gujranwala Gujrat Lahore Multan Rawalpindi Sahiwal Sargodha
Sindh	Hyderabad Karachi Larkana Mirpur Khas Shaheed Benazirabad Sukkur
Islamabad Capital Territory	None
Azad Jammu & Kashmir	Mirpur Muzaffarabad Poonch
Gilgit Baltistan	Baltistan Diamer Gilgit

Muzaffarabad Division

Social groups

Language

Districts

References

Notes

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