038. Demographics Of Jammu & Kashmir

India has 29 states and 7 union territories. One of them is the state of Jammu & Kashmir. It has a unique status for being the only Muslim-majority state. This has caused a major international controversy between India and Pakistan, as both control different parts of this state and, at the same time, claim the part they do not control.

Kashmir was part of the Mughal Empire for nearly two centuries until the 1750s. Due to its beauty and climate, it was a favourite haunt of the Mughal emperors. In 1753, the Durranis of Afghanistan conquered it and ruled until 1819 (probably only the Kashmir Valley and not the Jammu region). That year, the Sikhs under Maharaja Ranjit Singh conquered it. Sikh rule turned out to be oppressive, and many anti-Muslim steps were taken. Taxes were high, and the general population had minimal rights. The Jamia Masjid in Srinagar was closed, and calling the azan was banned. The punishment for cow slaughter was death.

Jammu was already under Sikh control since 1780. The descendants of the last raja joined the service of Ranjit Singh and rose to prominent positions. One of them, Gulab Singh, was made the governor of Jammu and played a great role in the conquest of Kashmir Valley and Ladakh for the Sikh government of Lahore. After the death of Ranjit Singh, the chaos prevailing in the Lahore Darbar and factional infighting gave the Dogras an opportunity to increase their power in the Jammu region, and they became autonomous rulers of this region.

In 1845, the First Anglo-Sikh War broke out and resulted in the defeat of the Sikh state. As a consequence, the Sikhs lost the Jullundur Doab to the British and also agreed to pay Rs. 10 million as indemnity. They also agreed to keep a British resident at the Lahore Darbar to oversee and control the affairs of the state.

During this crisis, the attitude and role played by Gulab Singh made him a favourite of the East India Company rulers. He not only gained full control of Jammu Subah but also took control of the Kashmir Valley, in return for a Rs. 7.5 million payment to the British. Thus, the state of Jammu & Kashmir was created under British rule. This treaty is called the Treaty of Amritsar. The Dogra rule was no less than a nightmare for the Muslims of the state. British observers of that era agreed that the Dogra rule was the most oppressive and incompetent in all of India. Muslims were virtually slaves, crushed under heavy taxes, and had no rights whatsoever. Bonded labour and inhumane punishments were the order of the day. Even cases of people being skinned alive were reported.

To sum up the situation, I would like to quote Sir Albion Rajkumar Banerjee, who was appointed as Diwan of Jammu & Kashmir in 1927 but resigned in 1929 on moral grounds. He said:

“Jammu and Kashmir State is labouring under many disadvantages, with a large Mohammedan population absolutely illiterate, labouring under poverty and very low economic conditions of living in the villages, and practically governed like dumb driven cattle. There is no touch between the government and the people, no suitable opportunity for representing grievances... The administration has at present no or little sympathy with people's wants and grievances...” [Wikipedia]

Then came the cataclysmic year of 1947. Against the wishes of the large majority of its population, ignoring geographical considerations and violating the principle of the partition of India, Hari Singh, the ruler of Kashmir, decided to accede to India. Thus, he laid the foundation of a dispute which has kept South Asia in a constant state of tension, wars, and arms race.

In January, when I thought of writing this post, the first problem I encountered was incomplete data about the religious demographics of J&K. The figures available were only for the districts, but I wanted data at the tehsil level. At this stage, help came from an unexpected source. Mr. Edin Radoncic, a Bosnian scholar based in Sarajevo, read my blog and sent me a message appreciating my work. He also sent me two great books written by him. One is World Almanac of the Demographic History of Muslims and the second is Twice a Stranger: Greece, Turkey and the Minorities They Expelled. On my request, he provided me with the complete population data of Kashmir at the tehsil level. So I was able to write this post. He can be contacted at edinradoncic1@hotmail.com.

As the name of this state itself suggests, it is a combination of two regions: Jammu and Kashmir. Besides that, there are at least three other regions that form part of the erstwhile princely state—Ladakh, Gilgit, and Baltistan. A large portion of Ladakh is controlled by China and is called Aksai Chin. The following map shows the current political situation of Kashmir.

Current Political Situation in Kashmir. 

The next two maps show the population of Muslims in Indian controlled Kashmir.

The next two maps show the population of Hindus in the state.

The following map shows the simple religious majorities in all parts of Kashmir:

For the data of each and every tehsil of J&K the tables given below:

 J&K is not only religiously diverse, it is more diverse linguistically as the map given below shows:

The above map shows that Kashmiri speaking people are overwhelmingly Muslims, while Hindus are mostly Dogras.

I hope the people interested in the affairs of Kashmir will find the above maps and data useful. I shall welcome any additional information provided or any inaccuracy pointed out.

Tariq Amir

Doha - Qatar. 
March 25, 2015.