Aksai Chen was uninhabited and desolate when an agreement was made with China over the territory, keeping in mind the fact that the region was historically considered part of the Kingdom of Tibet, and was annexed by the Dogra's. It therefore has nothing to do with the Kashmiris or Jammu for that matter. The only peoples with whom the region might be associated are the Buddhists in Laddakh.
The agreement on Aksai Chen between China and Pakistan states that final status of Aksai Chen, in case of the people of J&K choosing India, would be determined through negotiations with India, so it is by no means a 'settled issue' or 'sold land'.
Do not distort the facts Samaba is discussing about Aksai Chin was annexed from India in 1962. And Pakistan ceded part of its Kashmir to China in 1963.
Introduction
The Kashmir Valley, surrounded by some of the highest mountains in the world, is a land of immense natural beauty, as well as strategic importance.
Regarded by India as an integral part of the country and by Pakistan as "disputed territory" which is rightfully theirs, Kashmir lies at the heart of the continuing tensions between the neighbouring countries.
After India and Pakistan tested nuclear devices in May 1998, world attention focused in the summer of 1999 on the limited war in Kashmir which raised the spectre of a nuclear exchange in the subcontinent. As well as a border skirmish in 1999, the two countries have fought three wars in the past 55 years over Kashmir.
Nuclear testing has fueled tensions
The issue is complex, and arouses strong emotions on both sides of the border. The 8 million strong Kashmiri population is 65 per cent Muslim, but Hindus and Buddhists have an integral role in the culture.
Kashmir was ceded to India by the then Hindu princely ruler Maharaja Hari Singh in October 1947. Pakistan does not accept the accession as legal. India and Pakistan fought over Kashmir in 1947-48, with a temporary ceasefire being reached in 1949.
United Nations mediation in 1948 failed and the issue remains unresolved to date. To the east of the Line of Control (LOC) lies the valley of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh, guarded by Indian troops. To the west lies Pakistani "Azad [Free] Kashmir" which India calls the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
Another lesser known player in the region is China.
In March 1963 Pakistan ceded the Baltistan territory in its part of Kashmir to China. Earlier, after annexing Tibet in 1950, China built a road from its Xin Jiang province through Aksai Chin in Kashmir, which led to the Indo-Chinese war of 1962.
Emerging victorious in the war, China occupied 37,555 sq km of the Kashmiri territory in Aksai Chin in the Ladakh region.
The Siachen glacier battlefield
China occupies roughly 20 per cent of the original state of Jammu and Kashmir. Thus, the effective control of the Indian state over Kashmir extends to less than half of the total area. Pakistan controls 78,114 sq km of the state.
Today, some 80,000 Indian and Pakistani soldiers face each other along the 450-mile-long LOC, in hostile territory that includes the Siachen glacier, the highest battlefield in the world.
Indian soldiers have been fighting what they call a "proxy war" against Muslim separatist groups. These include groups demanding Kashmiri independence, some allegedly supported by Pakistan, as well as Afghan mercenaries.
The Kashmir factfile serves as a guide to this conflict, with hot links to developments as reported in news.telegraph.co.uk.
Introduction - Telegraph
