Editing Azad Kashmir (section)

==Name==
''Azad Kashmir'' (Free Kashmir) was the title of a pamphlet issued by the [[All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference|Muslim Conference]] party at its 13th general session held in 1945 at [[Poonch (town)|Poonch]].{{sfnp|Behera, Demystifying Kashmir|2007|p=20}} It is believed to have been a response to the [[Jammu & Kashmir National Conference|National Conference]]'s ''Naya Kashmir'' (New Kashmir) programme.{{sfnp|Kapoor, Politics of Protests in Jammu and Kashmir|2014|loc=Chapter 6, p.&nbsp;273}} Sources state that it was no more than a compilation of various resolutions passed by the party.{{sfnp|Ganai, Dogra Raj and the Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir|1999|loc=Chapter 6, p.&nbsp;341}} But its intent seems to have been to declare that the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir were committed to the [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]]'s struggle for a separate homeland (Pakistan),{{sfnp|Behera, Demystifying Kashmir|2007|p=20}} and that the Muslim Conference was the sole representative organisation of the Muslims of Kashmir.{{sfnp|Kapoor, Politics of Protests in Jammu and Kashmir|2014|loc=Chapter 6, p.&nbsp;273}} However, the following year, the party passed an "Azad Kashmir resolution" demanding that the maharaja institute a constituent assembly elected on an extended franchise.{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 1|2015|p=663}} According to scholar [[Chitralekha Zutshi]], the organisation's declared goal was to achieve responsible government under the aegis of the maharaja without association with either India or Pakistan.<ref>{{citation |last=Zutshi |first=Chitralekha |title=Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H7Ptp4Iod8EC&pg=PA292 |year=2004 |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |isbn=978-1-85065-700-2 |page=302}}</ref> The following year, the party workers assembled at the house of [[Sardar Ibrahim]] on 19 July 1947, reversed the decision, demanding that the Maharaja accede to Pakistan.{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=9}}<ref>{{citation |first=Balraj |last=Puri |author-link=Balraj Puri |title=The Question of Accession |journal=Epilogue |volume=4 |number=11 |date=November 2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TMxJzb7N_8wC&pg=PA4 |page=5 |access-date=8 May 2020 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117135717/https://books.google.com/books?id=TMxJzb7N_8wC&pg=PA4 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Soon afterward, [[Sardar Ibrahim Khan|Sardar Ibrahim]] escaped to Pakistan and led the [[1947 Poonch rebellion|Poonch rebellion]] from there, with the assistance of Pakistan's prime minister [[Liaquat Ali Khan]] and other officials. Liaquat Ali Khan appointed a committee headed by [[Mian Iftikharuddin]] to draft a "declaration of freedom".{{sfn|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|pp=148–149}} On 4 October, an Azad Kashmir provisional government was declared in Lahore with Ghulam Nabi Gilkar as president under the assumed name "Mr. Anwar" and Sardar Ibrahim as the prime minister. Gilkar travelled to Srinagar and was arrested by the maharaja's government. Pakistani officials subsequently appointed Sardar Ibrahim as the president of the provisional government.{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=547|pp=544–545}}{{refn|group=note|The official with direct involvement in the affair was the Commissioner of [[Rawalpindi Division]], Khawaja Abdul Rahim. He was assisted by [[Nasim Jahan]], the wife of Colonel [[Akbar Khan (Pakistani general)|Akbar Khan]].{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=547}}}}