1949–1974 The Ministry of Kashmir Affairs (MKA) was first established in January 1949 following the
First Indo-Pakistani War, which left Kashmir divided between
India and Pakistan through a
UNSC-mandated
ceasefire line.
Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani, former
diwan of
Bahawalpur and Pakistani state minister without portfolio (sic) was appointed as the minister in charge of the MKA. A sprawling office was set up in
Rawalpindi with a 300-man secretariat. The MKA also had directorates for public relations,
refugee rehabilitation, movements and quartering, and civil supplies and coordination, which were located in the city of
Murree. In April 1949, the MKA executed the
Azad Kashmir Karachi Agreement with the then President of Azad Kashmir,
Muhammad Ibrahim Khan and the head of the
All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference,
Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas. The document's terms gave complete control over the areas of
Gilgit and
Baltistan to the MKA. For the territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir itself, control over defence and foreign affairs was ceded to the ministry, including the responsibilities of contemporary negotiations with the
United Nations and any arrangements for the
envisaged plebiscite for Kashmir. However, on the ground, the ministry had almost complete control over the Azad Jammu and Kashmir government, due to the latter's few resources and almost full dependence on Pakistan for supplies and management.
Brookings Institution scholar Navnita C. Behera states: Australian political scientist
Christopher Snedden states: Kashmiri political analyst Ershad Mahmud states:
1974–present In 1974, under the
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto administration, Azad Jammu and Kashmir's first constitution was drafted—known as the
Interim Constitution of 1974. Under this ruling, Pakistan's controlled territory in Kashmir was politically bifurcated, with the regions comprising Gilgit and Baltistan being split into a separate unit called the
Northern Areas. Likewise, the MKA was renamed to the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas (MKANA). In 2009, the Northern Areas were formally renamed to
Gilgit-Baltistan, and the MKANA was correspondingly renamed to the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan (MoKGB). Europe's foremost think tanks have asserted that the
China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is infringing upon the human rights of the residents of
Gilgit-Baltistan, a contested territory traversed by the highway. Furthermore, the construction of CPEC is inflicting significant ecological harm on the region. In 2025, the
Ministry of States and Frontier Regions was also merged into it. ==Management divisions==