Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Urdu: آزاد جموں و کشمیر Azad Jammu o Kashmir) abbreviated AJK or, for short, Azad Kashmir (literally "Free Kashmir") is the southernmost and the smaller of two political entities which together constitute the Pakistani-controlled part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which ceased to exist as a result of the first Kashmir war. The northermost and the larger
of the two political entities is the Pakistani-controlled territory of Gilgit-Baltistan. Azad Jammu and Kashmir borders the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to the east (separated from it by the Line of Control), Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province to the west, the Pakistani-controlled territory of Gilgit-Baltistan to the north, and Pakistan's Punjab Province to the south. With its capital at Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir covers an area of 13,297 square kilometres (5,134 sq mi) and has an estimated population of about four million. Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan together constitute the region referred to as "Pakistani-controlled Kashmir" by the United Nations[2][3] and other international organizations and as "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir" in India,[4] in contrast to the names 'Indian-Administered Kashmir' and "Indian-occupied Kashmir" (in Pakistan) referring to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The area which comprises Azad Jammu and Kashmir was captured from the princely state by rebelling militias[who?] and the Pakistani army.
