[1] It comprises the Kashmir Valley, bordering the Jammu Division to the south and Ladakh to the east.

Other important cities include Anantnag, Baramulla, Sopore and Kulgam.

[24][25] Among Muslims, there are Shias and Sunnis secs, majority of whom are made up of ethnic Kashmiris, with a significant minority of Pahari-Pothwari and Gujjar-Bakarwal people mainly living at the border area adjoining Pakistani administrated Kashmir.

However, originally the valley had a small but visible minority of Kashmiri Hindu prior to the exodus in the 1990s.

[13] Urdu is also widely understood as a literary language in Kashmir due to it being a medium of instruction in schools.