Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is that part of the Jammu and Kashmir (India) which was invaded by Pakistan in 1947. The region is referred by the United Nations and other international organizations, as ‘Pakistani-controlled Kashmir’ (or Pakistan Administered Kashmir) and it was re-named as ‘Pakistan occupied Jammu-Kashmir.
Baltistan was the area of west Ladakh province which was occupied by Pakistan in 1947.
Pakistan occupied Kashmir is divided into two parts:
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)
Gilgit-Baltistan (referred to as the ‘Northern Areas’ till August 2009)
Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan is also called Azad Kashmir and is attached to the western part of Indian Kashmir.
Instrument of Accession
1. During partition, Jammu and Kashmir was given the option to join either India or Pakistan but Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of that time, decided to keep it as an independent state.
2. In 1947, Pakistan’s Pashtoon tribals attacked Jammu and Kashmir. To tackle this situation, Maharaja Hari Singh sought military help from the then Indian Governor-General Mountbatten.
3. Mountbatten replied saying, “It is my government’s wish that as soon as law and order have been restored in Jammu and Kashmir and her soil cleared of the invader, the question of the State’s accession should be settled by a reference to the people.
