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Dal lake in Kashmir (srinagar) KASHMIR

Jammu and Kashmir, territory in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Commonly known as Kashmir, the territory is bounded on the north by Afghanistan and China, on the east by China, on the south by the state of Himachal Pradesh and the state of Punjab in India, and on the west by the North-West Frontier Province and the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Area, about 222,236 sq km (about 85,806 sq mi).
Both India and Pakistan claim all of Kashmir, but the territory has been partitioned between them since 1947. India controls most of Kashmir, which it has organized as the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and Pakistan administers the rest (the northwestern portion), which it calls Azad (Free) Kashmir. The capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is Srinagar. The administrative center of Azad Kashmir is Muzaffarabad. Area of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, about 138,430 sq km (about 53,488 sq mi); population (1991 estimate) 7,718,700. Area of Azad Kashmir, 84,160 sq km (32,494 sq mi); population (1985 estimate) 2,800,000.
Kashmir is almost entirely mountainous and is topographically divided into three regions: the valley of the Jhelum River, which includes the Vale of Kashmir, in the central portion; the mountains around Jammu in the south; and the great mountains of the Karakorum Range in the north. The Indus River flows through Kashmir, and the Jhelum River rises in the northeastern portion of the territory. Kashmir possesses a more equable climate than that of southern and central India, and the beautiful Vale of Kashmir is a noted resort region.
Kashmir is the habitat of numerous game animals, including the markhor and ibex (wild goat), stag, and bear. Most of the population is engaged in agriculture; the principal crops are rice, corn, wheat, and oilseed. Among livestock raised are buffalo, cattle, sheep, goat, and poultry. Silk weaving and carpet weaving are major industries. The majority of the population is Muslim. Hindus and Sikhs are concentrated in the south around Jammu; a Buddhist minority is present in the northeast.
Kashmir is an ancient country, deriving its name, according to tradition, from the Khasi, a people who lived in the northern mountains several centuries before the Christian era. The country was originally a stronghold of Hinduism; Buddhism was introduced about 245 BC. Beginning in the mid-14th century AD, Muslim sultans controlled the area for two centuries. Akbar, the Mughal emperor of Hindustan, conquered Kashmir between 1586 and 1592, and it became a part of the Mughal empire. In 1819, after a period of Afghan rule extending from 1756, Kashmir was conquered by Ranjit Singh, the Sikhist maharaja of the Punjab. In 1846 Galub Singh, the ruler of Jammu, concluded a treaty with Great Britain, which by then dominated most of India, and was confirmed as ruler also of Kashmir.
Following the August 1947 partition of British India into Pakistan and the Republic of India, a large section of the predominantly Muslim population of Kashmir demanded accession to Pakistan, a Muslim state. The reigning maharaja, Sir Hari Singh, a Hindu, resisted the pro-Pakistani movement. Pakistan invaded the area, after which the maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession to the Indian Union. India thereupon dispatched troops to Kashmir and in the ensuing conflict forced the Pakistanis to yield ground. Through mediations organized by the United Nations, a cease-fire agreement between the two nations was concluded in January 1949. Subsequent UN efforts to secure troop withdrawals and develop a plebiscitary plan satisfactory to both sides were unsuccessful. Heavy border fighting broke out in 1965 and again in 1971. Since the late 1950s border disputes have also arisen between India and China. The separatist movement reemerged in 1988, and India increased its troop deployment in the region. Tensions increased sharply beginning in early 1990, with violent clashes between Indian troops and pro-independence demonstrators.