Pir Panchal region is considered home to the Gujjar Tribe in Jammu and Kashmir State. Gujjars are partly nomadic and mostly Muslims. Their language, Gojri, is the second major language after Kashmiri in the state.
Although their scattered habitations and houses also exist in Kashmir valley, Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua and Doda district on IAK side of LoC; a sizeable Gujjar population lives on the PAK side of LoC particularly in Mirpur, Bhimber, Kotli, Plandri, Rawalakot, Bagh and Muzaffarabad district.
After the Pahari-Punjabi speaking Rajput Muslims, Gujjars are the second largest ethnic group in Pakistan administered Kashmir. Due to the formation of 223 km LoC in 1947, this tribal community remained a main victim of these contested lands.
There is hardly any Gujjar family in Jammu province or north of Kashmir Valley which didn’t suffer from the division and wars in 1947 or 1965. During this period, About 17,000 families of Gujjar
tribes have migrated from IAK to PAK.
