New Delhi, Nov 17 (TIWN) The internal rift in the Congress party has surfaced again with Jammu and Kashmir leaders resigning from the party protesting over continuation of state Congress Chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir. Most of the leaders who have sent their resignation to Sonia Gandhi are said to be close to former Congress Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Kashmir is a Himalayan region that both India and Pakistan say is fully theirs.  The area was once a princely state called Jammu and Kashmir, but it joined India in 1947 soon after the sub-continent was divided up at the end of British rule.  India and Pakistan subsequently went to war over it and each came to control different parts of the territory with a ceasefire line agreed.  There has been violence in the Indian-administered side - the state of Jammu and Kashmir - for 30 years due to a separatist insurgency against Indian rule.