Kashmir By Snedden, Christopher

A radical new look at the largely forgotten four million people of Azad Kashmir the part of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan, and separated by a Line of Control from Indian territory In Kashmir: The Unwritten History, politico-strategic analyst Christopher Snedden contends that in October 1947, pro- Pakistan Muslims in southwestern 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 Kashmirs 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 UNsupervised plebiscite. This poll has never been conducted and Azad Kashmir has effectively, if not yet legally, become a (dependent) part of Pakistan.