Azad Kashmir’s Development Crisis and the Promise Unfulfilled

Understanding the Economic and Governance Challenges Facing Pakistan’s Kashmiri Region

When residents of Azad Jammu and Kashmir recall 1947, they speak of a decision freely made. The Muslim Conference leadership weighed independence but chose Pakistan, with the expectation that Azad Kashmir would be a partner in the federation rather than a periphery mined for resources. That was the political and moral bargain that underwrote accession: …