'Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir is part of India,' says MEA: A look at region's origin, history and geopolitical importance

Amid rising rhetoric on Kashmir from both sides of the Line of Control, India on Tuesday said that Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir is a part of the country and New Delhi expects to have “physical jurisdiction” over the area “one day”. Addressing the media on the 100-day achievements of the Ministry of External Affairs in the NDA government’s second term, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said: “Our position has, is and will always be very clear on PoK, that it is part of India and we expect one day we will have physical jurisdiction over it.” The Centre has maintained that henceforth talks with Pakistan would be only about PoK and not on Kashmir. “On 1 January, a ceasefire between Indian and Pakistani forces left India in control of most of the Kashmir Valley, as well as Jammu and Ladakh, while Pakistan gained control of part of Kashmir including what Pakistan calls ‘Azad’ Kashmir and some Northern Areas,” a report by India Together said. “Pakistan claims it is merely supporting an indigenous rebellion in ‘Azad’ Kashmir and Northern Areas against repression, while India terms that territory as POK,” the report adds A formal ceasefire line, now known as the Line of Control, separating the Indian and Pakistan-controlled parts of the region came into existence. However, Brad Adams a former Asia director of Human Rights Watch, while referring to PoK as ‘Azad Kashmir’, noted in 2006,“Although ‘azad’ means ‘free,’ the residents of Azad Kashmir are anything but, the Pakistani authorities govern Azad Kashmir government with tight controls on basic freedoms.” Gilgit-Baltistan In November 2018, the British Parliament held that the area neighbouring PoK, Gilgit-Baltistan “belonged to India as an integral part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir after it legally acceded to the Union in 1947.” Soon after Independence, the British loaned two of their officers to the king to help with defence functions until a solution was found to whether the region would join India or Pakistan.