“We the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and the Frontier regions (Gilgit Baltistan), including Poonch and Chenani districts, commonly known as Jammu and Kashmir State, in order to perfect our union in the fullest equality and self-determination, to raise ourselves and our children forever from the abyss of oppression and poverty, degradation and superstition, from medieval darkness and ignorance, into the sunlit valleys of plenty, ruled by freedom, science and honest toil, in worthy participation of the historic resurgence of the peoples of the East, and the working masses of the world, and in determination to make this our country a dazzling gem on the snowy bosom of Asia, do propose and propound the following constitution of our state...”
For the kind attention of:
1: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif (@KhawajaMAsif )
Poonch was one of the historic federated units of the Jammu & Kashmir state for centuries. Rawalakot is its second-largest city. The region maintained its distinct identity and autonomy within the larger political federal system of Jammu and Kashmir.
When I was searching Ilim Din case in news papers in British Library from 1920 onward. I had come across news stories in 1926-28 news papers that in summer European tourists in India gathered in Gulmarg and Rawalakot in Kashmir, was news to me.
Mahmud of Ghazni launched two campaigns toward Kashmir but was defeated both times at Loharkot (also spelled Lohkot or Lokote) Fort, located near the Tosamaidan (Tosa Maidan) Pass in the Pir Panjal range (in the area of modern Loran in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir).. The Kashmir land in which he was defeated is Poonch region, whose people speak their own language known as Poonchi.
Loharkot Fort
Usman Sabir's elderly and blind mother is waiting for the body of her son, who was martyred by the Pakistan Rangers in Rawalakot on June 7. But the body has disappeared.
The renowned Sufi saint and poet Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, born in Chak Thakra near Khari Sharif in Mirpur district (Azad Jammu & Kashmir), composed his major works in Poonchi and Persian. He is often mistakenly labelled a “Punjabi poet.”
Like many mountain and valley languages, Poonchi is primarily oral. It naturally shares vocabulary and structure with neighbouring tongues such as Dogri, Punjabi, Pothwari, and Hindko — much like how Swiss German differs from standard German, or Swiss French from standard French, yet remains distinct. The people of these valleys have lived together for centuries in a federal-style political arrangement while retaining their linguistic and cultural identities.
The region features remarkable diversity:
Poonch → Poonchi
Jammu → Dogri
Kashmir Valley → Koshur (Kashmiri)
Ladakh → Ladakhi (Sino-Tibetan)
Baltistan → Balti (Tibetic)
Gilgit → Shina (the Chaks, who ruled Kashmir until 1586, originated from this area and last sovereign King was Yousuf Shah Chuck).
Hunza → Burushaski
This linguistic mosaic reflects thousands of years of settlement in isolated valleys and highlands, not a single monolithic identity.
This force was distinct from the tribal lashkars and irregulars sent by the Pir of Manik Sharif (with the reported consent of Governor Lord Cunningham) toward Muzaffarabad and Baramulla. When those groups faced local resistance in Baramulla and the advancing Indian Army, many retreated using the same transport that brought them. They had no organic connection to the Azad Kashmir movement or its independent state structure.
As documented in President Ayub Khan’s book Friends Not Masters, the Pakistan Army leadership itself acknowledged that the Free Kashmir Army was not under the Pakistan Army Act. When Pakistan sought to bring Azad Kashmir forces under its command, the then President Ali Ahmed Shah refused in the Meeting Ayub Khan and others resisted, asserting that Azad Kashmir had no merger with either India or Pakistan. The later integration into the Azad Kashmir Regiment Force (AKRF) raises questions about the legal and historical basis of that merger — questions that even Pakistan’s current Defence Minister appears unfamiliar with.
History matters. Before making statements on these complex issues, a careful reading of primary sources and regional realities is essential.
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