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NEW DELHI: India has formally split up Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir into two federal territories on Thursday.
IoK has been broken up into two federal territories to be directly ruled from New Delhi one consisting of Jammu and Kashmir and the other the remote Buddhist enclave of Ladakh.
The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have two divisions; Kashmir Valley and Jammu, an area of over 42,000 square kilometres with a population of 12.26 million, which comprises 8.44 million (68.8 percent) Muslims.
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The large territory of Ladakh, spreads over 59,000sq km and comprising two districts of Kargil and Leh, houses a tiny population of 274,289. Out of this, Muslims make up 127,296 (46.4 percent) and Buddhists 108,761 (39.65 percent).
The two regions will be administered by two lieutenant governors. Today, Girish Chandra Murmu, a former bureaucrat state of Gujarat, will be sworn in as the first lieutenant governor of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir today.
Life in IoK remains paralysed as curfew enters 87th day
Another former civil servant, Radha Krishna Mathur, will take office as the lieutenant governor of Ladakh.
It emitted thousands of more troops into the IoK where Kashmiris have been fighting against Indian rule for decades and made sweeping arrests to prevent any outbreak of violence.
Also read: Human Rights Watch urges India to end curfew in IoK
The government has also imposed strict restrictions on travel and barred citizens from using telephone and internet services.
Some measures have been scaled back but a security lockdown is still largely in place, and broadband and mobile internet connections remain unavailable to most Kashmiris.
The Indian government has hoped to ramp up tourism and infrastructure investment in Ladakh.
Also read: IAS officer Murmu to become first Lt Governor of IoK
