The territory became predominantly Muslim during the rule of the Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughal Empire due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape. By 1757, suzerainty of the region was obtained from the Mughals by Ahmad Shah Durrani under an agreement[7] and became part of Afghanistan[8] (also known as the Durrani Empire)[9][10][11] until Ranjit Singh invaded and took cont
rol from the Afghans in 1819.[12] It became a princely state with the name "Jammu and Kashmir" around 1846. After Pakistan achieved independence in 1947, Jammu and Kashmir also initially remained an independent state. On 22 October 1947 the Pakistani armed forces crossed the border in Jammu and Kashmir with the claim that they needed to suppress a rebellion on the southeast of the kingdom. Local tribal militias and the Pakistani forces moved to take Srinagar but on reaching Uri they encountered defensive forces. Hari Singh made a plea to India for assistance and signed the Instrument of Accession. The British government also took part in stopping the Pakistani forces from advancing.[13] On January 20, 1948 the UN passed a resolution which called for the withdrawal of all Pakistani forces from Jammu and Kashmir,[14] however it has remained under the control of Pakistan since then.[15] In 1970 the two part territory was merged into a single administrative unit, and given the name the name "Northern Areas".[5] The name "Northern Areas" was actually first used by the United Nations to refer to the northern areas of Kashmir.[citation needed] The Shaksgam tract was ceded by Pakistan to China following the signing of the Sino-Pakistani Frontier Agreement in 1963.[16][17]
Before the demise of Shribadat, the last Hindu king of the Trakhàn dynasty in Gilgit, a group of Shin people migrated from Gilgit Dardistan and settled in the Dras and Kharmang areas. The descendants of those Dardic people can be still found today, and is believed that they have maintained their Dardic culture and Shina language up to the
