Kotli District

District in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kotli District (Urdu: ضلع کوٹلی) is a district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.^[1] It is one of the 10 districts of Pakistan's dependent territory of Azad Kashmir. It is bounded on the north by the Sudhanoti District and the Poonch District, on the north-east by the Poonch District of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, on the south by the Mirpur and Bhimber districts, and on the west by the Rawalpindi District on Pakistan's Punjab Province. Kotli is the largest district of Azad Kashmir by population and the second biggest by land area, after the Neelum District.^[2] The district headquarters is the city of Kotli.^[3]

Administrating countryPakistan

HeadquartersKotli

Number of Tehsils5

Quick facts ضلع کوٹلی, Administrating country ...

Kotli District ضلع کوٹلی
District of Azad Kashmir administered by Pakistan^[1]

A map showing Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir (shaded in sage green) in the disputed Kashmir region^[1]
Interactive map of Kotli District
Coordinates (Kotli): 33°30′20″N 73°53′57″E
Administrating country	Pakistan
Territory	Azad Kashmir
Division	Mirpur Division
Headquarters	Kotli
Government
• Type	District Administration
• Deputy Commissioner	N/A
• District Police Officer	N/A
• District Health Officer	Syed Shafqat Hussain Shah
Area
• Total	1,862 km² (719 sq mi)
Population (2017)
• Total	774,194^[2]
• Density	415.8/km² (1,077/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Urdu
• Spoken	Pahari Gujari
Number of Tehsils	5

Demographics

The total population of the district, according to the 2017 census, is 774,194.^[2]

Social groups

Gujjar is a major ethnic group of Kotli district and they make up to 35% of total population of the district and they mainly speak Gujari as their mother tongue.^[4]

Language

Two major languages spoken in the district are Pahari and Gujari. In Muzaffarabad District Pahari is spoken by 50% Pahari (including all dialects), 35% Gujari, and 15% speak other languages.^[5]^[6]

Pahari (64.0%)
Gujari (Gojri) (35.0%)
Other (2.00%)

Administrative divisions

The Kotli District was previously a subdivision of the Mirpur District until 1975.^[3] Before 1947, it was part of the Jammu area of Jammu and Kashmir. The district is divided into six tehsils:

Education

According to the Pakistan District Education Ranking 2017, a report by Alif Ailaan, the Kotli District stands at number 7 nationally relating to education, with a score of 73.68. The learning score stands at 85.67 and gender parity is at 93.45.^[7]

According to the same report, the Kotli District is ranked at 119 nationally, with a learning score of 35.47 and a retention score of 35.36.^[7] The learning score is low because of a lack of quality teachers and proper teacher training. The retention score is low because of the low number of beyond-primary schools.

With regard to infrastructure, the Kotli District stands at 154, with a score of 14.14, which is the second lowest in Pakistan and its two dependent territories.^[7] That score shows that there is a serious problem with the lack of basic facilities such as electricity, functional toilets, furniture, and boundary walls.

References

[1]
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 partlv 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, 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'."
[2]
"Azad Jammu & Kashmir at a Glance – 2020" (PDF), Bureau of Statistics, Planning and Development Department, Government of Azad Kashmir, p. 4,19, 2020, retrieved 26 July 2024
[3]
"Kotli District". Azad Kashmir Government website. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
[4]
"Statistical Year Book 2020". ghostarchive.org. p. 140. Retrieved 31 December 2025. Gujjars make up 35% of the total population of Kotli (2,70,968) district.
[5]
"Statistical Year Book 2020". ghostarchive.org. p. 140. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
[6]
Shakil, Mohsin (2012). "Languages of Erstwhile State of Jammu Kashmir (A Preliminary Study)". p. 12. Pahari: 64%, Gorji: 35%; Others: 2%.
[7]
"Pakistan District Education Rankings 2017 (Kotli District)". Alif Ailaan Education Rankings website. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2023.