Mirpur Division

Mirpur Division
میرپور ڈویژن
Division of Azad Kashmir administered by Pakistan
A map showing Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir (shaded in sage green) in the disputed Kashmir region
A map showing Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir (shaded in sage green) in the disputed Kashmir region
Interactive map of Mirpur Division
Coordinates (Mirpur): 33°15′N 73°56′E / 33.250°N 73.933°E / 33.250; 73.933
Administering countryPakistan
TerritoryAzad Kashmir
CapitalMirpur
Government
 • TypeDivisional Administration
 • Regional DirectorChaudhry Shaukat Ali (PAS)
 • Regional Police OfficerKhalid Mehmood Chauhan (PSP)
Population
 (2017)
 • Total
1,651,018

The Mirpur Division (Urdu: میرپور ڈِوِژن) is a first-order administrative division of the Pakistani–administered territory of Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir. Mirpur is the largest division by population in Azad Kashmir. It comprises the portion of the former Mirpur District of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that came under Pakistani control at the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. Area wise it is second largest division of AJK after Muzaffarabad Division.

History

The area of the present Mirpur Division was a part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir during the British Raj and after the partition of India. After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, it became part of what is now Azad Kashmir. The Mirpur Division was the location of the Mirpur Massacre in November 1947.

Demographics

Social groups

Gujjar is a major ethnic in Mirpur Division and they up roughly 20.45% of the total population of the division, with a population of 3,37,619. Other ethnic groups found in the division are Sayeds, Rajgan, Rajput, Jat, Qureshi and Hashmi.

Language

The main languages spoken in Poonch division are Gujari and Pahari. Gujari is the language of 20.45% of the division's population; it is spoken by 30% in Kotli, 10% in Mirpur and 5% in Bhimber districts by the Gujjar population. Other languages spoken include Urdu, Hindko, Punjabi and Dogri.

Native languages of the Mirpur Division
  1. Pahari (60.0%)
  2. Gujari (20.4%)
  3. Other (19.6%)

Districts

Map of Mirpur Division

Currently, the Mirpur Division consists of the following districts:

District Area

(km²)

 Pop.

(2017)

 Density

(ppl/km²)

(2017)

 Literacy rate

(2017)

 Union Councils
Mirpur District 1,010 456,200 452
Bhimber District 1,516 420,624 297
Kotli District 1,862 774,194 416

Notes

  1. ↑ Gujjars make up 20.45% of the total population of Mirpur Division with the population in Kotli (2,70,968, 35%), Mirpur (45,620, 10%) and Bhimber (21,031, 5%) districts.

References

  1. 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'."
  2. ↑ "November 25, 1947 Mirpur massacre: An ill-fated day that reminds us of injustice and infringement, brutality and bloodshed".
  3. ↑ "Kashmir History and Politics".
  4. 1 2 Government, of Azad Kashmir. Statistical Year Book 2020 (PDF). Muzaffarabad: AJ&K Bureau Of Statistics. p. 140. Retrieved 3 March 2022.