Leo Rose, editor of Asian Survey, explains in Perspectives on Kashmir: The Roots of Conflict in South Asia, that although there is an abundance of information on the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, material on Pakistan's segment of Kashmir is largely in Urdu, is "difficult to obtain, even in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan, and has never been absorbed into the more general bibliographies on Kashmir" (Rose 1992, 236). Constraints on the availability of current information dictate that much of the information provided in this response is contextual in nature. This response focuses on four areas: Constitutional Status, Unrest in Azad Kashmir, Unrest in the Northern Areas, and Refugee Camps in Azad Kashmir.

According to The New Encyclopaedia Britannica (1989, Vol. 25, 391-392),

The quasi-state of Azad (Free) Kashmir--along with three federally administered agencies, the Di mir Agency, the Gilgit Agency, and the Baltist n Agency--constitutes that part of the disputed states of Jammu and Kashmir ... that is under Pakistan's control. Azad Kashmir consists of an arc-shaped stretch of territory bordering the Indian-held state of Jammu and Kashmir on the east, the Pakistani states of Punjab on the south and southwest and the North-West Frontier Province on the west, and the Di mir and Baltist n agencies on the north. The combined area of Azad Kashmir and the three agencies is 32,358 square miles (83,806 square kilometres).

Estimates of the population of Azad Kashmir and the Northern areas vary. In 1987 The New Encyclopaedia Britannica estimated the population of Azad Kashmir at less than one million, and that of the Diamir, Gilgit and Baltistan Agencies, at "only a few score thousand" (ibid., 391). On 28 April 1994 the Radio Pakistan Network estimated the population of the Northern Areas, including the six districts of Gilgit, Skardu, Baltistan, Jian Mer, Khujar, and Laochi, at "nearly 7 lakh" or 700,000. Other estimates of the population of the Northern Areas run as high as 1 or 1.5 million (Country Reports 1993 1994, 1380; Deutsche Press-Agentur 29 Oct. 1994; India Abroad 1 July 1994).

Constitutional Status:

The constitutional status of Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas has been described as "anomalous" and "uncertain" because of the lingering dispute between Pakistan and India over the whole region of Kashmir (Border and Territorial Disputes 1987, 326; Deutsche Press-Agentur 29 Oct. 1994). Leo Rose explains that

[t]he status of Azad Kashmir has never been defined in normal international legal terms, either by the Azad Kashmir or Pakistani governments or the U.N. The closest approximation to a definition can be found in the various resolutions adopted by the U.N. Security Council and the UNCIP (United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan) which state that Azad Kashmir is neither a sovereign state nor a province of Pakistan but rather a 'local authority' with responsibility over the area assigned to it under the [1951] ceasefire agreement (1992, 236).
According to The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Azad Kashmir is neither a province nor an agency but has a government of its own that is regarded by Pakistan as 'independent,' even though it is protected by and economically and administratively linked to Pakistan" (1987, Vol. 25, 391). Since 1951 Azad Kashmir has had various forms of government (Border and Territorial Disputes 1987, 326; Rose 1992, 238-240). The 1974 constitution of Azad Kashmir provides for an elected assembly, as well as a ruling Azad Kashmir Council chaired by the president of Pakistan and including five members of the Pakistan Assembly nominated by the Pakistani prime minister, the prime minister of Azad Kashmir, six Azad Kashmir members elected by the Azad Kashmir Assembly on a proportional representation basis, and with the Minister of Kashmir Affairs as an ex-officio member (Rose 1992, 240; see also Border and Territorial Disputes 1987, 326).

According to Rose, "The 1974 constitution was unique in that it provided, in reality, for two executive forums in Azad Kashmir: the Azad Kashmir government in Muzaffarabad [the capital of Azad Kashmir] and the Azad Kashmir Council in Islamabad" (1992, 240). However, Rose contends that it is the Council, dominated by the Pakistani government, which has jurisdiction over "virtually everything of any importance" (ibid.).

The constitutional status of the Northern Areas is the focus of conflicting claims by the governments of Pakistan, Azad Kashmir, and India (Border and Territorial Disputes 1987, 327; Deutsche Press-Agentur 29 Oct. 1994; Country Reports 1994 1995). In April 1994 a reform package sponsored by Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto allowed for elections for the newly expanded Northern Areas Council (Radio Pakistan Network 28 Apr. 1994; Keesing's May 1994, 40010; Country Reports 1994 1995). According to Country Reports 1994 (1995), the Northern Areas Council "serves in an advisory capacity to the Federal Government and has no legislative authority," and "does not have the authority to change laws or raise and spend revenue." Elections were held in October 1994: out of 24 seats, the Shiite Tehrik Jafria Party, from Pakistan, won eight, the Independents won eight, and Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), won seven, although the legitimacy of the legislature is, according to Anwar Mansuri of Deutsche Press-Agentur, open to question (29 Oct. 1994).

In 1994 the Azad Kashmir High Court ruled that the Northern Areas were part of its jurisdiction (Country Reports 1993 1994, 1380; Keesing's Mar. 1993, 39370), although that ruling was overturned by the Pakistan Supreme Court (Deutsche Press-Agentur 29 Oct. 1994; Country Reports 1994 1995). The chief executive officer of the Northern Areas is Pakistan's Minister for Kashmir Affairs (ibid.; Keesing's May 1994, 40010). The Northern Areas have been promised fiscal autonomy, and a chief court to be headed by "a retired judge of a provincial high court" (Radio Pakistan Network 28 Apr. 1994; Keesing's May 1994, 40010). Sources consulted to date by the DIRB do not indicate whether or not those promises have been fulfilled.

Unrest in Azad Kashmir:

Azad Kashmir has often experienced political upheaval related to similar upheavals in Pakistan proper (Rose 1992, 238-240; Border and Territorial Disputes 1987, 326-327; see DIRB Apr. 1994, 1-8). The rise to power of the Azad Kashmir People's Party (AKPP) under Raja Mumtaz Hussain Rathore, for example, coincided with the allied Pakistan People's Party's (PPP) election victory in 1990 under Benazir Bhutto (Rose 1992, 242-243). But after Bhutto was dismissed, the new prime minister Nawaz Sharif pressured Rathore to resign (ibid.). Rathore's party won only two seats out of 40 in the violent spring 1991 elections, but Rathore complained of Pakistani interference and attempted to have the election results annulled (ibid., 243; Reuters 6 July 1991). He was then called to Islamabad, reportedly to discuss the situation, but was arrested upon arrival and stripped of office, setting off large demonstrations in Azad Kashmir (ibid.; Rose 1992, 243-244). Rathore was released some days later, and a new prime minister and president were elected by the Azad Kashmir Assembly (Rose 1992, 244). For more information on Raja Mumtaz Hussain Rathore, please see DIRB Response to Information Request PAK16031.E of 13 December 1993.

Sometimes unrest in Azad Kashmir is related to the political and human rights situation in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir (AFP 11 June 1994; ibid. 4 Apr. 1993; Keesing's Feb. 1992, 38763). In February 1992 violence broke out in Azad Kashmir over a planned crossing of the Line of Control with India by supporters of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), who wished to protest alleged human rights abuses in Indian-held Kashmir (Keesing's Feb. 1992, 38763). The Pakistan government officially opposed the crossing, and deployed some 40,000 troops to stop the marchers and avoid a confrontation with India (ibid.). On 11 February 1992 Pakistani troops fired on the marchers. According to government figures, seven died and 22 were wounded, while the JKLF claimed that 15 had died and 165 were wounded (La Presse 13 Feb. 1992). "Independent" sources cited by Keesing's "estimated that 16 demonstrators and two policemen had been killed and 350 demonstrators injured, 66 of whom were in critical condition" (Feb. 1992, 38763). In April 1992 the Azad Kashmir government reported that it was releasing 130 people who had been taken into custody following attempts to cross the Line of Control (Radio Pakistan Network 3 Apr. 1992). For more information on the February 1992 JKLF marches, please see DIRB Response to Information Request PAK18508.E of 23 September 1994.

In April 1993 former Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Mumtaz Hussain Rathore was arrested for attempting to lead some 2,000 marchers across the Line of Control into Indian-held Kashmir (Reuters 5 Apr. 1993). A spokesman for Rathore's party, the AKPP, stated that 500 other marchers were also arrested, but Agence France Presse was unable to get official confirmation (AFP 4 Apr. 1993). Sources consulted by the DIRB do not indicate what charges, if any, were laid.

In another incident, in June 1994, police clashed with about 20 young hunger strikers in Muzaffarabad (AFP 11 June 1994). According to Agence-France Presse, the youths were striking in support of Indian JKLF leader Yasin Malik, who was on a hunger strike in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. At least 12 people, four of them police, were injured in the police raid (ibid.). Agence France Presse reported that "Witnesses said the police arrested eight hunger strikers ... as well as their leader Shahid Raza Dar, who had threatened to commit self-immolation" (ibid.). Sources consulted by the DIRB to date do not indicate what charges, if any, were laid.

While much political attention in Azad Kashmir is focused on the situation of Kashmiris in India, according to Rose, an underlying theme in Azad Kashmir-Pakistan relations is the suspicion in Pakistan, as in India, that many Kashmiri Muslims would prefer an independent Kashmir to accession to either India or Pakistan. This is almost never discussed in public by either side in Azad Kashmir or Pakistan ... though it is implicit in most of the analysis done, in private discussion, by leaders on both sides .... [C]learly it is not only New Delhi that faces problems on the accession issue despite the proclivity of most Azad Kashmir politicians to speak in public about accession to Pakistan as their objective (1992, 245).

In September 1994 Amnesty International reported the "disappearance" of Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, Secretary General of the Jammu Kashmir People's National Party (JKPNP), who was, according to JKPNP members, banned from leaving Pakistan because of his views expressed "at a conference on Kashmir organized in Brussels by the European Parliament, where he opposed the policies of the Government of Pakistan toward Azad Kashmir" (AI 22 Sept. 1994). Shaukat Ali Kashmiri was released from an army detention centre after having disappeared for a month (AI 30 Sept. 1994).

Unrest in the Northern Areas:

Aabha Dixit writes in India Abroad that ethnic friction is increasing in the Northern Areas, and that

Groups have sprung up, demanding their independence from both POK [Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, or Azad Kashmir] and Islamabad.

The Shia population in the districts of Hunza and Gilgit accounts for 85 percent of the 1.5 million. In the past they have been victims of sectarian violence and strongly believe that the minority Sunni populations [sic] is working in alliance with Islamabad to trample upon their distinctive way of life (1 July 1994).

Country Reports 1993 mentions a "serious" riot that took place in Gilgit in August 1993 between Sunni and Shiite organizations:

12 people died and some 100 were arrested (1994, 1371). According to press reports, Gilgit city was occupied by the army and a curfew imposed to restore order after the riots (Xinhua 22 Aug. 1993; ibid. 20 Aug. 1993a; Reuters 21 Aug. 1993). Government officials told Reuters that the riots were set off by fighting between children, but escalated into "adult gunfights" (21 Aug. 1993). A Xinhua report, however, mentions the stabbing death of a youth as the catalyst for the riots (20 Aug. 1993a). In May 1992, fighting between Sunnis and Shiites in Gilgit killed at least

12 people and injured another eight, according to an Agence-France Presse report; troops were called in and a curfew imposed (1 June 1992). The report described the 1992 disturbances as "the worst in Gilgit since 1988 when Shiite-Sunni fighting resulted in scores of killings" (ibid.)

Refugee Camps in Azad Kashmir:

Accounts of visits to Kashmiri refugee camps in Azad Kashmir are relatively scarce. In February 1992 journalist Jean-Pierre Clerc reported that there were 10 such camps in Azad Kashmir, sheltering some 6000 Kashmiris who had left their villages in India and crossed the Line of Control into Azad Kashmir (Le Devoir 13 Feb. 1992). The one camp he visited, outside of Muzaffarabad, had tents for 166 families, who lived in "miserable conditions" (ibid.). On 15 May 1994 India Today reported the first visit by an Indian journalist, Harinder Baweja, to Kashmiri refugee camps in Azad Kashmir (55). Baweja reported that her movements were extremely restricted: she was surrounded by officials wherever she went and had a difficult time talking to Kashmiris alone (ibid. 55-59). She was presented with conflicting statistics about the number of Kashmiri refugees in the 11 camps in Azad Kashmir: 9,705 according to authorities in one camp she visited, 8,500 according to those in another (ibid. 55, 56). She also reported that the refugees she was introduced to did not feel free to talk to her openly in the presence of the Pakistani authorities (ibid. 57):

It was only in short, whispered conversations that the refugees gathered the courage to say that they were unhappy. That they were neither allowed to move out of the camps nor allowed to pick up jobs as field labourers. They were unhappy back home too but, as one of them said, 'at least we were under our own roof. But now I don't know if I'll ever see my house again'(ibid.).
Some other refugees she was presented with were unable to speak Kashmiri or provide basic details about their former lives in India, claiming that the trauma of their past had forced them to forget. Baweja, however, concluded that they were "surely not genuine refugees" and that "the Government obviously had a lot to hide" (ibid. 59). Baweja speculated that

A one-time grant of Rs 600 to Rs 2,000, free tents with beddings, a subsistence allowance of Rs 15 per person per day and free schooling facilities were incentives enough for the poor [non-Kashmiris] ... to come into the [refugee camp] tents (ibid. 59).

In September 1994 Pakistan Press International (PPI) reported a bomb explosion in a refugee camp in Kotli in Azad Kashmir, killing 10 and injuring another 17 (Kyodo News Service 16 Sept. 1994; AFP 15 Sept. 1994). Kyodo News Service reported that according to PPI, this was "the first incident of its kind in [Azad] Kashmir," and that "PPI said authorities in the refugee camp blamed Indian intelligence for the explosion" (ibid.; AFP 15 Sept. 1994).

Additional information specific to the current situation in Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas, or relating to the treatment of Kashmiris by Pakistan authorities, is not currently available in the sources consulted by the DIRB. This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find attached the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 15 September 1994. "10 Kashmiri Refugees Killed in Bomb Blast: Report." (NEXIS)

_____. 11 June 1994. "12 Injured in Youth-Police Clash in Pakistani Kashmir." (NEXIS)

_____. 4 April 1993. "Kashmiris Gather to Defy Ban." (FBIS-NES-93-064 6 Apr. 1994, p. 56)

_____. 1 June 1992. "Dozen Killed in Gilgit; Curfew Imposed." (NEXIS)

Amnesty International (AI). 30 September 1994. "Pakistan: Opposition Politician Released after a Month's 'Disappearance'." (AI Index: ASA 33/WU 06/94). London: Amnesty International.

_____. 22 September 1994. "Pakistan: Amnesty International Urges for Inquiry into 'Disappearance' of Opposition Politician." (AI Index: ASA 33/WU 05/94). London: Amnesty International.

Border and Territorial Disputes. 1987. 2nd ed. Edited by Alan J. Day. Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. 1995. United States Department of State. (INTERNET: VOA gopher)

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1993. 1994. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Deutsche Press-Agentur. 29 October 1994. Anwar Mansuri. "Elections Bring Hope but not Full Rights to Northern Pakistan." (NEXIS)

Documentation, Information and Research Branch (DIRB), Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), Ottawa. April 1994. Pakistan: Country Review.

Le Devoir [Montréal]. 13 February 1992. Jean-Pierre Clerc. "Nuages de guerre sur le Cachemire pakistanais."

India Abroad [New York]. 1 July 1994. Aabha Dixit. "Kashmiris Now See Pakistan's Ploy." (NEXIS)

India Today [New Delhi]. 15 May 1994. Harinder Baweja. "Pakistan Occupied Kashmir: Prisoners of Propaganda."

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. May 1994. Vol. 40, No. 5. "Political Reforms for Northern Areas [Azad Kashmir]."

_____. March 1993. Vol. 39, No. 3. "Court Ruling on Gilgit and Baltistan."

_____. February 1992. Vol. 38, No. 2. "Kashmir: Attempted Cross-Border Protests."

Kyodo News Service. 16 September 1994. "10 Killed in Explosion in Kashmir." (NEXIS)

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1989. 15th ed. Vol. 25. Edited by Philip W. Goetz. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica.

La Presse [Montréal]. 13 February 1992. "Une marche indépendantiste tourne au bain de sang au Cachemire: 15 morts."

Radio Pakistan Network [Islamabad, in English]. 28 April 1994. Ejaz Hussain. "Commentary Views Reform Package for Northern Areas." (FBIS-NES-94-085 3 May 1994, p. 83)

_____. [Islamabad, in Urdu]. 3 April 1992. "Azad Kashmir Government Releases 130 People." (FBIS-NES-92-065 3 Apr. 1992, p. 44)

Reuters. 21 August 1993. "One More Killed as Pakistani Moslem Rivals Fight." (NEXIS)

_____. 5 April 1993. "Pakistan Arrests Kashmir Marchers." (NEXIS)

_____. 6 July 1991. "Sacked Kashmir Premier Detained for 30 Days, Could be Tried." (NEXIS)

Rose, Leo. 1992. "The Politics of Azad Kashmir." Perspectives on Kashmir: The Roots of Conflict in South Asia. Edited by Raju G.C. Thomas. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

Xinhua General Overseas News Service. 22 August 1993. "Normalcy Returns to Gilgit, Pakistan." (NEXIS)

_____. 20 August 1993a. "20 Killed in Violence in Pakistan." (NEXIS)

Attachments

Agence France Presse (AFP). 15 September 1994. "10 Kashmiri Refugees Killed in Bomb Blast: Report." (NEXIS)

_____. 11 June 1994. "12 Injured in Youth-Police Clash in Pakistani Kashmir." (NEXIS)

Amnesty International (AI). 30 September 1994. "Pakistan: Opposition Politician Released after a Month's 'Disappearance'." (AI Index: ASA 33/WU 06/94). London: Amnesty International.

_____. 22 September 1994. "Pakistan: Amnesty International Urges for Inquiry into 'Disappearance' of Opposition Politician." (AI Index: ASA 33/WU 05/94). London: Amnesty International.

Border and Territorial Disputes. 1987. 2nd ed. Edited by Alan J. Day. Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK, pp. 317-329.

India Today [New Delhi]. 15 May 1994. Harinder Baweja. "Pakistan Occupied Kashmir: Prisoners of Propaganda," pp. 25-30, 32, 33, 37, 40, 42, 45, 47, 48, 55-57, 59.

Kyodo News Service. 16 September 1994. "10 Killed in Explosion in Kashmir." (NEXIS)

Rose, Leo. 1992. "The Politics of Azad Kashmir." Perspectives on Kashmir: The Roots of Conflict in South Asia. Edited by Raju G.C. Thomas. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, pp. 236-251.