The greater Kashmir region, which has been the focus of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and between India and China since 1962, is divided into Jammu and Kashmir, a region that is administered by India as a union territory. In the west and north, the Pakistani-administrated regions of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir are divided from Jammu and Kashmir by the Line of Control. It is located west of Ladakh, which is also involved in the conflict as a portion of Kashmir and is governed by India as a union territory, and to the north of the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which was approved by both houses of the Indian Parliament in August 2019, included provisions for the creation of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. With effect from October 31, 2019, the act reconstituted the old state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, one of which is Jammu and Kashmir and the other is Ladakh.
