The flag of Azad Kashmir ( ur, ) is a civil and

state flag In vexillology, a state flag is either the flag of the government of a sovereign state, or the flag of an individual federated state (subnational administrative division). Government flag A state flag is a variant of a national flag (or occasi ...

representing the Pakistani-administered territory of

Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger K ...

. It features a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

background, four horizontal white stripes alternating with green, a star and crescent on the upper fly, and a gold

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

on the upper hoist.

History

The flag was adopted on 24 September 1975 via the Azad Jammu and Kashmir State Flag Ordinance, passed by founding President

Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan (22 April 1915 – 31 July 2003) was the key instigator of the 1947 Poonch Rebellion in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in British India and the later establishment of Azad Kashmir under Pakistani admini ...

. It was designed in 1948 by Abdul Haq Mirza, a ''mujahid'' working at the Rawalpindi headquarters of the Azad Kashmir rebellion, as the "Kashmir Liberation Flag". Mirza also created the formation signs of the Kashmir Liberation Force.: "Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Abdul Haq Mirza has the honour of designing the flag of Azad Kashmir and formation signs of Azad Kashmir Regular Forces." The Azad Kashmir flag is a key symbol of identity for Azad-Kashmiris at home and in the Azad Kashmiri diaspora. It has also been associated with the

Kashmir conflict The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, with China playing a third-party role. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed ...

Design

The flag symbolises various aspects of the state. According to the Azad Kashmir government, the green field represents the region's

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

majority population; the gold canton represents the religious minorities; the white stripes represent the snow-peaked mountains of the state, and the green stripes alternating with them represent the Valley of Kashmir. The star and crescent is a national icon which also features on Pakistan's flag.

References

{{Azad Kashmir topics, state=collapsed Azad Kashmir

A Azad Flags introduced in 1975

History

Design

See also

References