Muzaffarabad, with a population of just over 6,00,000, looks cleaner than Srinagar (Azad Kashmir has 10 districts with an estimated population over three million in 2009). Even during my previous visit in 2004, I found that the stories of “under development in Azad Kashmir,” fed to us on this side, are off the mark. This time, I noticed road connectivity and power supply to houses even on the upper reaches of a hill. In contrast, many villages in Jammu and Kashmir even today are without basic facilities. Neither does Muzaffarabad seem to be lagging behind in education and health compared to the Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir though progress is more in tune with Pakistani literacy rates. In the past few years the development in these two sectors has been rapid. The literacy rate in Azad Kashmir has touched 65 per cent which is higher than for any other area in Pakistan. In conversations, both the young and old in Muzaffarabad say that Pakistan has “never discriminated” against the region.
“We had several top generals in the Army. Diplomats, scientists and officers in Pakistan civil services continue to call the shots in policy making of Pakistan,” said Kamran Basharat, a student. However, he said, people in AJK do see themselves differently from Pakistan and seek more political autonomy.
Means China support intervention of other nations.
