Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Urdu: آزاد جموں و کشمیر azaad jammu o- kashmir ; AJK) or Azad Kashmir for short (literally, “Free Kashmir”), is the southernmost political entity within the Pakistani-administered part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It borders the present-day Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir to the east (separated from it by the Line of Control), the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan to the west, the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) to the north, and the Punjab Province of Pakistan to the south. With its capital at Muzaffarabad, [...]

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Pakistanis’ great hospitality to strangers and strong addiction to tea has given birth to many proverbs. The best known of these is the one about the “three cups of tea” which goes like this: On the first cup, you’re a stranger, and on the second, a guest. By the third cup, you’re family. Pakistan is the world’s third-largest importer of tea with nearly 175 million kg of annual consumption, costing an estimated $500 million, and increasing at about 4% a year. It imports tea from 21 countries, with the lion’s share of black tea imports coming from Kenya, Bangladesh [...]

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