Untold Story of the People of Azad Kashmir

by Christopher Snedden

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 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.

Genres: History, India

435 pages, Hardcover

First published July 5, 2011

About the author

Dr Christopher Snedden is a politico-strategic analyst specialising in South Asia. Currently, he works as a consultant in his own consultancy (ASIA CALLING), which specialises in providing information about South Asia, and for Deakin University as the Director of the Master of Arts (Strategic Studies) program offered by the university at the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies, Canberra.

Dr Snedden also teaches a postgraduate unit, 'Strategic Issues in South Asia', for Deakin and an undergraduate history unit, 'Modern India', at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Russian and Politics) and a PhD from La Trobe University, Melbourne, and has worked on South Asian matters for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Joint (now Defence) Intelligence Organisation. His research interests include India-Pakistan relations, Pakistan politics, and Jammu and Kashmir, particularly Azad Kashmir.

Courtsey : http://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/christo...

Reviews

[shabana ks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Years of trying to get my hand on this book. Never came across a book this specific to azad kashmiris there was a wealth of information and ethnographic work done. This book may feel dense for most but as someone whose family is from the region, i thoroughly enjoyed it. I could see some parallels with this and narratives from family which before reading this book was the only way i knew certain things about Azad kashmir.

[Neelam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it because its one of the ONLY books I’ve found that even regards the people of Azad Kashmir in the Kashmir dispute but was slowly disappointed as the title suggests an anthropological, cultural insight too but this was a purely legal, international relations and high level political account of Azad Kashmir rather than an account of the actual people