Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Timothy J. Colton and Robert C. 

Tucker, eds., Patterns in Post-Soviet Leadership (Boulder, 

Colo.: Westview Press, 1995); Resul Yalcin, The Rebirth 

of Uzbekistan: Politics, Economy and Society in the Post-

Soviet Era. (Reading, England: Ithaca Press, 2002).

Kashmir

A disputed land of spectacular mountains, green 

valleys, and beautiful lakes, Kashmir is divided 

between Indian and Pakistani rule. Indian Kash-

mir is a territory known officially as Jammu and 

Kashmir. The Pakistani part of Kashmir is divided 

into two regions known as Azad (Free) Jammu 

and Kashmir and the Northern Territories. Indian 

Kashmir consists of three provinces: Jammu, the 

Kashmir Valley, and Ladakh. China is located 

along its northern and eastern borders. It has an 

area of nearly 86,000 square miles, which is com-

parable to that of Minnesota in the United States. 

There are about 11 million people (2001 census) 

living in Indian Kashmir, of whom 65 percent are 

Muslims. This territory therefore has the largest 

percentage of Muslims among all of India’s states 

and territories, with the exception of Lakshad-

weep (95.5 percent). Most Muslims reside in 

the Kashmir Valley proper, where they comprise 

about 95 percent of the population. They make up 

44 percent of the population in Ladakh (Tibetan 

Buddhists are a 51 percent majority there) and 

27 percent of the population in Jammu (Hindus 

comprise a 67 percent majority there). Sikhs are 

an important minority, especially in Jammu. In 

Azad Kashmir there are four million people; about 

750,000 people live in the mountainous Northern 

Territories.

s

UFism

 has been an important aspect of Kash-

miri religious life since the 14th century, and the 

majority of Kashmir’s Muslims identify with Sunni 

Islam. Ismaili Shiis predominate in the Northern 

Territories, where they migrated centuries ago 

to escape persecution. There are also followers 

of  t

Welve

-i

mam

  s

hiism

 and the a

hmadiyya

 sect. 

Moreover, Kashmiri Islam developed infusions