Overview

Since the partition of the Asian subcontinent in 1947, conflict has raged in Kashmir, and the clash between India and Pakistan over this coveted territory has led to the emergence of Indian-administered and Pakistan-administered areas. While the social and political conditions in the former have been widely discussed, even experts lack critical knowledge of Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir (PAJK), particularly its political, cultural, and social realities. Luv Puri provides sorely-needed analysis of the crucial pre-independence social and political processes that polarized the state as well as the violence that devastated the region during partition. He then follows the effect of these events on Pakistan's Punjab province and the ensuing impact on Pakistan's position toward the Jammu and Kashmir issue. The relationship between Pakistan and PAJK is a significant aspect of Puri's research. He traces the history of migration from Mirpur to Britain and the Mirpuri diaspora's significant support of early militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. Based in PAJK, this insurgency promised to free Kashmir from both Indian and Pakistani forces. Puri also discusses the pro-independence struggle's many transformations, from its inception to the present day. An original and revealing volume, Across the Line of Control majorly contributes to literature on the region and the role of PAJK in larger Jammu and Kashmir tensions.

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9780231703062

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Reviews

Across the Line of Control examines Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir. It is a timely work given both contemporary political developments in the Kashmir region and the paucity of literature on Azad Kashmir itself. The volume usefully provides an up to date analysis of the region along with material on its Muslim diaspora community which forms a significant element of the 'Pakistani' diaspora in Britain. All of these subjects have been relatively under-researched with more emphasis usually being placed on the Kashmir Valley and its inhabitants. The volume thus seeks to explain the history of Azad Kashmir since 1947 and to reveal its relations both with the wider Kashmir dispute and the Pakistan state. This understanding is grounded in an analysis which draws on both documentary evidence and personal testimony. -- Professor Ian Talbot, author, Pakistan: A Modern History

Across the Line of Control examines Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir. It is a timely work given both contemporary political developments in the Kashmir region and the paucity of literature on Azad Kashmir itself. The volume usefully provides an up to date analysis of the region along with material on its Muslim diaspora community which forms a significant element of the 'Pakistani' diaspora in Britain. All of these subjects have been relatively under-researched with more emphasis usually being placed on the Kashmir Valley and its inhabitants. The volume thus seeks to explain the history of Azad Kashmir since 1947 and to reveal its relations both with the wider Kashmir dispute and the Pakistan state. This understanding is grounded in an analysis which draws on both documentary evidence and personal testimony. -- Professor Ian Talbot, author, Pakistan: A Modern History I was struck by the close parallels between the arbitrary and counterproductive ways in which the treatment of Azad Kashmir by the Pakistan government mirrors Delhi's own treatment of the Indian part of Jammu and Kashmir. Puri nicely depicts, among other things, the contribution of the Mirpur diaspora to the JKLF, and the pathos of divided families. -- Ramachandra Guha, author of India After Ghandi: the History of the World's Largest Democracy Much research and writing on the Pakistan-administered section of Jammu and Kashmir is either hortatory or polemical. Luv Puri's book, Across the Line of Control: Inside Pakistan-Administered Jammu and Kashmir is a welcome departure from such accounts. It is carefully researched, cogently argued and historically sound. Journalists, policy analysts and scholars interested in the contemporary politics of this ill-understood region will find this work to be a most useful primer of the subject -- Sumit Ganguly, Ranbindranath Tagore Professor of Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana University

<p> Across the Line of Control examines Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir. It is a timely work given both contemporary political developments in the Kashmir region and the paucity of literature on Azad Kashmir itself. The volume usefully provides an up to date analysis of the region along with material on its Muslim diaspora community which forms a significant element of the 'Pakistani' diaspora in Britain. All of these subjects have been relatively under-researched with more emphasis usually being placed on the Kashmir Valley and its inhabitants. The volume thus seeks to explain the history of Azad Kashmir since 1947 and to reveal its relations both with the wider Kashmir dispute and the Pakistan state. This understanding is grounded in an analysis which draws on both documentary evidence and personal testimony.--Professor Ian Talbot, author, Pakistan: A Modern History

Author Information

Luv Puri is a Fulbright scholar at New York University and won a European Commission Award for Human Rights and Democracy in 2006. He has been a correspondent with the Hindu and has contributed to various media publications and academic journals. His research interests concern the situation of South Asian Muslims, the conflict in Kashmir, and Pakistan.

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