Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan


The Ministry of Kashmir Affairs & Gilgit Baltistan is a ministry of the Government of Pakistan. The Ministry looks upon affairs of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan as both territories of Pakistan administered Kashmir do not have regular provincial status of Pakistan.

History

1949–1974

Ministry of Kashmir Affairs was first established in January 1949. Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani, a Minister of State without portfolio was appointed as the minister in charge of the ministry. A sprawling office was set up in Rawalpindi with a 300-man secretariat. It also had Directorates for Public Relations, Refugee Rehabilitation, Movements and Quartering, Civil Supplies and Coordination, which were in Murree.
In April 1949 the Ministry executed the Karachi Agreement with the-then president of Azad Kashmir Muhammad Ibrahim Khan and the leader of the Muslim Conference Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas. By the agreement, complete control over the Gilgit and Baltistan areas was handed over to the ministry. For Azad Kashmir itself, control over defence and foreign affairs was ceded to the ministry, including the negotiations with the United Nations and arrangements for the envisaged plebiscite for Kashmir. However, in actual fact, the ministry had almost complete control over the Azad Kashmir government itself, because the government had few resources and it was dependent on Pakistan for all its supplies. Scholar Navnita Chadha Behera states:
Scholar Christopher Snedden states:
Political analyst Ershad Mahmud states:

1974–present

In 1974, under the Government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Azad Kashmir got its first constitution, which was called the Interim Constitution of 1974. The Gilgit and Baltistan areas were separated into a separate unit called Northern Areas, and the MKA was renamed the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas.
In 2009, the Northern Areas were renamed Gilgit-Baltistan and the ministry was correspondingly renamed Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Organisation