A Kashmir-disputed territory consists of 5 independent areas: a Jammu & Kashmir, a Azad Kashmir, the Aksai Chin, the Northern Areas and the Siachen Glacier. The Government of India claims the entire locality to become the section of India (when its northmost state) including the locality administered by Pakistan which it calls Pakistan Occupied Kashmir or PoK and a Aksai Chin, presently under Chinese occupation. Pakistan, yet, doesn't recognize a vicinity when existence a a share of India & calls the area under Indian control, i personally.e. Jammu & Kashmir, as Indian Occupied Kashmir while the region under its control is called Azad Kashmir meaning Free Kashmir, except for the separately-administered Northern Areas.

the Indian government prohibits any publication describing a metropolitan area when a disputed territory as opposed to an integral a share of India, which, e.g., has led to a ban on the import of Encyclopædia Britannica CD-ROMs into India in 1998 [http://www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19980826/23850324.html].

Government
India has granted Jammu and Kashmir the favorite autonomy status; however Kashmiri political parties dem& for the greater autonomy and sovereignty. Jammu and Kashmir has two independent political parties : ''Population's Democratic Person (PDP) & a National Conference''. Presently, PDP is the regnant person by using Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the Main Minister of the state. PDP & its ally a Congress Party hold the maximal total of seats in the Jammu & Kashmir state assembly.

Geography and climate

Economy

Culture

Demographics

While Jammu is a Hindu majority area, the Kashmir Valley is predominantly Muslim and Ladakh has a Buddhist-majority population. It is this complex demography of the region which has been disrupted by the ongoing Kashmir dispute.

With the onset of terrorism, many families, particularly those belonging to the Hindu community (numbering nearly 20,000) were forced into leaving their traditional homes during the '80s. This caused a major upheaval in the socio-economic fabric of the peaceful Kashmiri communities, which till then had been a model for inter-community harmony. This resulted in near destruction of most of the area's economic activities as progress stalled for nearly a decade. Many of the uprooted Hindu and Muslim families were strong community leaders, and this nearly destroyed the fabric of Kashmir.

But recent events in the area, such as cross-border Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) have restored some of the faith of people in the governments' ability to heal the fractures.

The Kashmir Dispute

continues to claim as its part.

Ever since, a bitter enmity has been developed between India and Pakistan. The two countries have been to war three times in Kashmir (1947-1949, 1965, 1971) and clashed there again during the Kargil Conflict of 1999. The region remains as one of the most heavily militarised zones in the world. The de facto situation is that Pakistan controls just under half, China a small portion, and India just over half the state.

See Also: Indo-Pakistani Wars, Kashmir