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Jammu (Occupied by Pakistan)’ refers to the southern and western districts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that came under Pakistani administration after the 1947 partition of British India. The area includes Mirpur, Bhimber, and Kotli districts, formerly under Chibhal rule ^[1]

Prior to Dogra rule, Bhimber was governed by the Chibhal Dynasty, a Rajput lineage that held power across parts of the western Jammu hills and maintained semi-independent status under successive Mughal and Sikh rulers.^[2]. The region has a distinct cultural, linguistic, and historical identity separate from the Kashmir Valley, characterised by Pahari-speaking communities and Rajput, Jat, and Gujjar clans with deep ancestral ties to the Jammu hills.

Although Pakistan administers the territory as part of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), some scholars and diaspora researchers refer to it as Jammu (Occupied by Pakistan) to emphasise its Chib-Dogra heritage and the historical marginalisation of its population within broader Kashmir narratives.

Jammu (Occupied by Pakistan) lies south of the Jhelum River and west of the Pir Panjal Range, forming the low-hill and plain zone between the western Himalayas and the Punjab plains. The region comprises the districts of Mirpur, Bhimber, and Kotli, collectively known as the Bhimber Division under Dogra administration.^[3]

The principal rivers are the Jhelum, and Poonch which flow north-to-south through deep valleys before merging with the Indus system. The terrain ranges from fertile alluvial plains and foothill terraces in Bhimber and Mirpur to steeper, forested ridges in Kotli. The climate is semi-arid to subtropical, with hot summers, mild winters, and monsoonal rainfall concentrated between July and September.^[4]

The region formed part of the Chib-Dogra-rule Jammu Province (1401–1947) following the Treaty of Amritsar between the British East India Company and Raja Gulab Singh, establishing Dogra sovereignty over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.^[5]

During the Partition of India in 1947, Mirpur witnessed one of the largest civilian tragedies in the region, locally remembered as *Khooni Budwaray* (“Bloody Wednesday”).^[6]
The event, also known as the Mirpur Massacre, occurred on 25 November 1947 and resulted in large-scale loss of life and abductions among the non-Muslim population.^[7]

• Khooni Budwaray* is widely commemorated within diaspora communities, particularly among displaced families from Mirpur, Bhimber, and Kotli, and is observed annually as Mirpur Day (25 November).^[8]

The post-Partition displacement and the construction of the Mangla Dam (1961–1967) led to mass migration from Mirpur, Bhimber, and Kotli to the United Kingdom.^[9]
Communities in Bradford, Birmingham, Rochdale, and Luton maintain strong transnational connections to their ancestral lands, with a growing preference for the identity term Jammūvi to distinguish themselves from Kashmiri populations.^[10]

The region’s cultural landscape reflects a blend of Chibhal, Rajput, and Pahari traditions rooted in the pre-Partition Jammu highlands.

The predominant spoken language is ‘Pahari’ and closely related to ‘Dogri and Gojri’, and written in both Perso-Arabic and Shahmukhi scripts.^[11]

Religious and spiritual life in Jammu (Occupied by Pakistan) incorporates both ‘Sunni and Shia’ schools of thought as well as a strong ‘Sufi heritage’. Notable shrines include ‘Sheikh Baba Shadi Shaheed’ in Bhimber, ‘Mai Toti Sahiba’ in Kotli, and ‘Pir Shah Ghazi’ in Mirpur, which attract visitors from across the region and diaspora.^[12]

Traditional crafts include pottery, copperwork, wood carving, shawl making often influenced by trade with the Kashmir Valley and Punjab plains. Folk storytelling, dhol rhythms, and marriage rituals retain traces of Chibal and Rajput ceremonial forms.

The Pahari identity — expressed through language, music, and memory — remains central to the region’s cultural continuity and transnational identity.^[13]

The territory is administered by Pakistan as part of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, one of two political divisions within the Pakistani-administered areas of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.^[14]
It forms the Mirpur Division, which comprises the districts of Mirpur, Kotli, and Bhimber. The division is overseen by a Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners at the district level, following the administrative structure of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s government in Muzaffarabad.^[15]

The region’s economy is based primarily on agriculture, hydropower, and remittances from its large overseas population, particularly the British Pakistani community of Jammūvi origin.^[16]
Key infrastructure projects such as the Mangla Dam and its subsequent expansions have contributed to both economic development and large-scale displacement, shaping the demographic and social profile of the Mirpur Division.^[17]

Jammu (Occupied by Pakistan) has one of the largest diasporic communities in the United Kingdom, originating mainly from the districts of Mirpur, Kotli, and Bhimber.
Significant populations settled in cities such as Bradford, Birmingham, Rochdale, and Luton during the 1950s and 1960s, particularly following the construction of the Mangla Dam, which displaced tens of thousands of residents from Mirpur and surrounding areas.^[18]

The community has since become an integral part of British social and economic life, while maintaining strong transnational ties to the Jhelum Valley region through remittances, religious institutions, and heritage associations.^[19]
In recent years, many British Pakistanis of Mirpuri or Bhimberi origin have increasingly identified as Jammūvi rather than Kashmiri, emphasising their linguistic, cultural, and historical roots in the southern Jammu highlands rather than the Kashmir Valley.^[20]

Lydekker, R. (1883). The Geology of the Káshmír and Chamba Territories, and the British District of Khágán. Geological Survey of India.

Schofield, V. (2010). Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War. I.B. Tauris.

Snedden, C. (2013). The Untold Story of the People of Azad Kashmir. Hurst Publishers.

Rehman, S. (2018). An Insight into Kashmir. (Self-published / regional imprint).

Yasmeen, R. (2025). The Forgotten Wound: Mental Health, Memory, and Epigenetic Trauma in the Mirpur Massacre. Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry.

Yasmeen, R. (2025). Naming, Erasure and Identity in a Misrecognised Jammu Diaspora. Transcultural Psychiatry.

Chibhal – Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibhal