Mirpur District

Coordinates: 33°9′0″N 73°44′0″E / 33.15000°N 73.73333°E / 33.15000; 73.73333
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other places called Mirpur, see Mirpur (disambiguation).
Mirpur District
ضلع میرپور
Gojri
Number of Tehsils2

Mirpur District (

Urdu
: ضلع میرپور) is a district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.[1] It is one of the 10 districts of Pakistan's territory of Azad Kashmir.[3] The Mirpur District is bounded on the north by the Kotli District, on the east by the Bhimber District, on the south by the Gujrat District of Punjab, Pakistan, on the south-west by the Jhelum District of Punjab, Pakistan, and on the west by its Rawalpindi District. The district is named after its main city, Mirpur. The Mirpur District has a population of 456,200[4] and covers an area of 1,010 km2 (390 sq mi). The district is mainly mountainous with some plains. The Mirpur District has a humid subtropical climate[5] which closely resembles that of the Gujrat District and the Jhelum District, the adjoining districts of Pakistan's Punjab Province.

Map of Azad Kashmir with the Mirpur District highlighted in red

History

Azad Kashmir with the Mirpur Division (roughly coterminous with the pre-1947 Mirpur District) highlighted in red

During the

Rajouri District
of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

The original Mirpur District, along with the

Rajouri District, had close geographic, ethnic, and cultural ties with the West Punjab area, more so than with the city of Jammu and the rest of the Jammu Province. Due to those reasons, scholar Christopher Snedden stated that the people of Mirpur area had a strong desire to join Pakistan during the partition.[10]

In November 1947, the Mirpur District was the site of the

Mirpur Massacre, where many Hindus, Sikhs, and refugees from the partition, were killed by armed Pakistani tribesmen and soldiers.[11]

Language and ethnicity

The main language, native to an estimated 85% of the district's population,

Potohar Plateau in the Punjab Province and the Pahari spoken to the north in Azad Kashmir and around Murree – and shares with them between 77% and 84% of its basic vocabulary,[17] although the difference with the northernmost varieties (in Muzaffarabad) is sufficient to impede understanding.[18] Mirpuri speakers have a strong sense of Kashmiri identity that takes precedence over linguistic identification with closely related groups outside of Azad Kashmir, such as the Punjabis of the Pothohar.[19][20]

The Gujari language is spoken by an estimated 10% of the population.[12] The local dialect is closely related to the Gujari varieties spoken in the rest of Azad Kashmir and in the Hazara region.[21] Other languages spoken include Urdu and English.

Government

The district is administratively subdivided into two tehsils:[22]

Villages

Notable villages in the district include:
Dadyal Tehsil

Mirpur Tehsil

References

  1. ^
    due weight
    in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (h) through (i) below, "held" is also considered politicized usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (j) below).
    (a) Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 15 August 2019 (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories.";
    (b) Pletcher, Kenneth, Aksai Chin, Plateau Region, Asia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 16 August 2019 (subscription required) Quote: "Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir state.";
    (c) "Kashmir", Encyclopedia Americana, Scholastic Library Publishing, 2006, p. 328,
    ISBN 978-1-84904-621-3
     Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'."
  2. ^ "Kashmir". 20 June 2023.
  3. ^ - Government Website
  4. ^ "Census 2017: AJK population rises to over 4m". The Nation. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
  5. ^ "Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  6. ^ Karim 2013, pp. 29–32.
  7. ^ Behera 2007, p. 15.
  8. ^ Snedden 2001, p. 118.
  9. ^ Snedden 2001, p. 112.
  10. ^ Snedden 2001, p. 120.
  11. ^ "November 25, 1947 Mirpur massacre: An ill-fated day that reminds us of injustice and infringement, brutality and bloodshed".
  12. ^ a b Shakil 2012.
  13. ^ Lothers & Lothers 2010, pp. 2–3, 5, 19, 100.
  14. ^ Lothers & Lothers 2010, p. 44.
  15. ^ Lothers & Lothers 2010, p. 2.
  16. ^ Shackle 1979, p. 201.
  17. ^ Lothers & Lothers 2010, pp. 2, 24.
  18. ^ Lothers & Lothers 2010, p. 86.
  19. ^ Shackle 2007, p. 114.
  20. OCLC 991571023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  21. ^ Hallberg & O'Leary 1992, pp. 111–12. The variety surveyed is from Kotli, to the north of Mirpur District
  22. ^ "Tehsils of Mirpur District on AJK map". ajk.gov.pk. AJK Official Portal. Retrieved 18 November 2019.

Bibliography

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