Jammu and Kashmir ⁱ/ˌdʒɑːmuː/ & /ˈkæʃmɪər/ is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the Pakistan-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan, to the west and northwest respectively.

Formerly a part of the erstwhile Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu, which governed the larger historic region of Kashmir, this territory is disputed among China, India and Pakistan. Pakistan, which claims the territory as disputed, refers to it alternatively as Indian-occupied Kashmir or Indian-held Kashmir, while some international agencies such as the United Nations, call it Indian-administered Kashmir. The regions under the control of Pakistan are referred to as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or PoK within India.

Jammu and Kashmir consists of three regions: Jammu, the Kashmir valley and Ladakh. Srinagar is the summer capital, and Jammu is the winter capital. While the Kashmir valley is famous for its beautiful mountainous landscape, Jammu's numerous shrines attract tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims every year. Ladakh, also known as "Little Tibet", is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and Buddhist culture.

Kashmir (Balti, Gojri, Poonchi/Chibhali, Dogri: कश्मीर; Kashmiri: कॅशीर, کٔشِیر; Ladakhi: ཀཤམིར; Uyghur: كەشمىر; Shina: کشمیر) is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range. Today Kashmir denotes a larger area that includes the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (the Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh), the Pakistani-administered Gilgit–Baltistan and the Azad Kashmir provinces, and the Chinese-administered regions of Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract.

In the first half of the first millennium, the Kashmir region became an important center of Hinduism and later of Buddhism; later still, in the ninth century, Kashmir Shaivism arose. In 1349, Shah Mir became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir and inaugurated the Salatin-i-Kashmir or Swati dynasty. For the next five centuries, Muslim monarchs ruled Kashmir, including the Mughals, who ruled from 1526 until 1751, then the Afghan Durrani Empire that ruled from 1747 until 1820. That year, the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir. In 1846, upon the purchase of the region from the British under the Treaty of Amritsar, the Dogras—under Gulab Singh—became the new rulers. Dogra Rule, under the paramountcy (or tutelage) of the British Crown, lasted until 1947, when the former princely state became a disputed territory, now administered by three countries: India, Pakistan, and the People's Republic of China.

Nawaz Sharif (Punjabi, Urdu: نواز شریف; born December 5, 1949) is a Pakistani steel magnate and national conservative, serving as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 until October 12, 1999. He is the President of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the Centre-right-conservative political force in Pakistan.

Before becoming the Prime minister, Sharif served as the ninth Chief Minister of Punjab Province from 1985 to 1990 and embarked his political career under the military regime of President General Zia-ul-Haq. An advocate and businessman, he owns Ittefaq Group, a private steel mill enterprise and one of the largest producer of iron materials, noted as being as Pakistan's one of the wealthiest investor in the steel mill business. His political philosophy emphasized and reflected conservatism advocating for the free-market economy, capitalism as its economic base. His first term survived a serious constitutional crisis when President Ghulam Ishaq Khan attempted to dismissed Sharif by citing "corruption and nepotism", which Sharif strongly denied and turned to Supreme Court. The apex Supreme Court of Pakistan favored the Prime minister citing that Presidential ordnance as "unconstitutional and irrelevant", therefore the government was reconstituted. His first term was finally dismissed after the Pakistan Armed Forces persuaded him to resign to end the political standoff with President Ishaq Khan, which he too was forced to resigned.