Muzaffarabad

The city takes its name from Sultan Muzaffar Khan of the Bomba dynasty, who founded it in 1646 at the meeting of the Neelum and Jhelum rivers, a crossing point on the routes between the Kashmir valley and the plains. The Red Fort on the Neelum bank was begun earlier, by the Chak rulers of Kashmir in 1559, and completed in 1646 in the reign of Muzaffar Khan, with the river running round three sides of it. Mughal, Afghan and then Sikh authority reached the area in turn, and the Bombas held a semi-independent position between them.

In 1846 the British sold Kashmir to Gulab Singh of Jammu, and Muzaffarabad became a district town of the new princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, ruled by the Dogra dynasty for a century. When the Maharaja acceded to India in October 1947, rebellion in the western districts and fighting in the first Indian-Pakistani war left the town on the Pakistani side of the ceasefire line drawn in 1949, later renamed the Line of Control. It became the capital of Azad Kashmir, with its own president, prime minister and assembly, while India claims the territory as part of Jammu and Kashmir.

On 8 October 2005 an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck with its epicentre a short distance from the city. Muzaffarabad was devastated: schools, hospitals, government buildings and much of the housing collapsed, and tens of thousands of people died in Azad Kashmir and the neighbouring districts. Reconstruction, with international assistance, rebuilt the city over the following decade, including new campuses, hospitals and housing on the slopes above the old centre. A bus service across the Line of Control to Srinagar had been launched in April 2005, six months before the earthquake.

Muzaffarabad is a Pahari-speaking city. The local language, Pahari-Pothwari, is close to the speech of northern Punjab and the Kashmir valley's Pahari districts, with Gojri and Kashmiri also heard and Urdu used for schooling, government and the press. English is common among the educated, and the university gives the city a large student population and a livelier public life than its size suggests.

The population is almost entirely Muslim, mostly Sunni, and the rhythm of the year runs on the Islamic calendar: Ramadan, the two Eids, and the mawlid processions. Shrines on the hills, above all Pir Chinasi, attract pilgrims and weekend visitors alike, and the Sufi tradition they belong to is part of everyday religious life. Kashmir's political status is present in public life — in street names, monuments, official ceremonies and the flow of families displaced across the Line of Control in earlier decades — and visitors are usually best served by listening rather than offering opinions.

Family and biradari ties are strong, weddings are large and elaborate, and much of the city has relatives in Britain and the Gulf whose remittances and summer visits shape the social calendar. Crafts associated with Kashmir — embroidered shawls, woodwork, woollen cloth — are sold in the bazaar, though most are made elsewhere. Manners are formal: greetings first, tea offered immediately, and modest dress taken as a sign of respect.

Muzaffarabad is the largest city of Azad Kashmir and the capital of a territory of 4.33 million people at the 2023 census, and is therefore full of government offices, courts, the assembly, hospitals and the university. It is also the market and service town for the Neelum, Jhelum and Leepa valleys, and people come down from the hills for shopping, schooling and medical care.

Work is mainly in government service, education, trade, transport and construction, with farming and forestry in the surrounding hills and a growing seasonal trade in domestic tourism heading for the Neelum valley. Remittances from relatives in Britain, where many Azad Kashmiri families settled from the 1960s, and in the Gulf support a great many households and are visible in the large houses on the outskirts. Reconstruction after 2005 remains the largest single event in living memory, and new building is still going on.

Days start early, the bazaar is busiest in the morning and again after the afternoon heat, and summer evenings are spent outside along the rivers. Current concerns include earthquake and landslide risk, the reliability of electricity and water, hospital capacity, the cost of living, the effect of dams and water projects on the rivers, and the tension that periodically affects areas near the Line of Control.

The food is Kashmiri and Pahari rather than northern-mountain. Slow-cooked mutton dishes with yogurt and red chilli, roasted and minced-meat preparations, and rice served with thick gravies are what a household cooks for guests, and the elaborate multi-course wedding feast of Kashmiri tradition is the model for celebration cooking. Maize and wheat breads, dal, seasonal greens known locally as saag, and pickles are the everyday staples, with beans and rajma common.

Noon chai, the pink salted tea of Kashmir made from green tea leaves, milk and a pinch of soda, is drunk in the morning and whenever a guest arrives, usually with a plain baked bread from the bakery. Sweet milk tea and green tea, sometimes with cardamom, are the alternatives, and bakeries sell biscuits, cakes and sweets such as halwa and barfi in the bazaar.

The rivers and hills supply the local specialities: trout from the Neelum and its tributaries, fried simply; honey from the valleys; walnuts, apples and apricots in season; and maize dishes from the upland villages. Along the road into the Neelum valley, small restaurants serve trout, chicken karahi and bread to travellers, and that is where most visitors to Muzaffarabad eat their best meal.