63 per cent of the territory is under Indian occupation; while the rest, 37 per cent, is with Pakistan, called Azad (independent) Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
Area
151,360 square kilometres
Indian-occupied Kashmir: 95,356 sq.kms
Azad Jammu and Kashmir : 56,003 sq.kms
Population
13 million (approximate)
Indian-occupied Kashmir: 7.7 million (projected figures, as census has not been held since 1991)
Azad Jammu Kashmir: 2.58 million (1990 figure)
Refugees in Pakistan: 1.5 million
Expatriates: 1.5 million
Cause of the Kashmir dispute
India’s forcible occupation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 is the main cause of the dispute. India claims to have 'signed' a controversial document, the Instrument of Accession, on 26 October 1947 with the Maharaja of Kashmir, in which the Maharaja obtained India's military help against popular insurgency. The people of Kashmir and Pakistan do not accept the Indian claim. There are doubts about the very existence of the Instrument of Accesion. The United Nations also does not consider Indian claim as legally valid: it recognises Kashmir as a disputed territory. Except India, the entire world community recognises Kashmir as a disputed territory. The fact is that all the principles on the basis of which the Indian subcontinent was partitioned by the British in 1947 justify Kashmir becoming a part of Pakistan: the State had majority Muslim population, and it not only enjoyed geographical proximity with Pakistan but also had essential economic linkages with the territories