Kashmiri Handicrafts to Buy in Azad Kashmir

Azad Kashmir handicrafts belong to the same family of crafts as the wider Kashmir region: felted namda rugs, patchwork gabba, painted papier-mâché, walnut wood carving and embroidered shawls. Several of them have their historic centre in the Kashmir Valley across the Line of Control, so what you find in AJK bazaars is a mix of local work and pieces made elsewhere in Pakistan. The crafts most clearly rooted in AJK itself are hand-woven loi and pattu woollens and walnut carving from the Neelum and Leepa valleys.

This guide covers what each craft is, which ones the AJK government lists as local, how to tell hand-made work from machine copies, and where to shop.

What the AJK government counts as local crafts

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Small Industries Corporation, the government body that promotes crafts in the territory, lists these as AJK's handicrafts: walnut wood carving, including the style it calls "padri" carving; carpet weaving in wool, silk and cotton; loom-woven kani shawls and needle-embroidered sozni shawls; namda, gabba and chain stitch; papier-mâché; loi and pattu making; traditional kangri making; and needlework on women's dresses and pherans.

Its "One Product One Village" scheme, approved in 2018, planned six-month training courses for 400 people at craft centres in Leepa in the Jhelum Valley and Kel in the Neelum valley, both for wood carving and loi and pattu, and in Mirpur for zari embroidery. A later project proposed craft outlets at Mangla, on the Kohala to Muzaffarabad road, on the Islamabad to Murree road and at Lok Virsa in Islamabad. These are the corporation's published plans; we could not confirm which centres and outlets are operating now, so ask locally.

That list is the best guide to what is genuinely made in AJK. It also tells you where to look: woollens and carving in the northern valleys, embroidery in Mirpur, and the widest choice of everything in Muzaffarabad.

Loi and pattu: AJK's own woollens

A loi is a large hand-woven woollen blanket or wrap, and pattu is the hand-woven woollen cloth used for shawls and coats. The craft corporation sited its loi and pattu training centres in Leepa and Kel, in the colder northern valleys, so that is where to look for them. Hand-woven pattu is dense and slightly uneven in texture, with small irregularities along the edges; machine-made woollen cloth is lighter and perfectly regular. Our what to buy in Neelum valley guide covers the valley's shops.

Namda: felted wool rugs

Namda is a rug made by felting wool rather than weaving it: layers of cleaned, dyed wool are soaped and pressed together, then usually finished with chain-stitch (aari) embroidery in contrasting threads. It is warm, relatively light and traditionally used as flooring or a prayer mat. Machine-felted, machine-embroidered versions are common and much cheaper; hand-embroidered namda has visible thread texture and slight irregularity in the stitching.

Gabba: patchwork from recycled wool

Gabba is made from old woollen blankets, the corporation specifically mentions used lois, cut into pieces and stitched into a patchwork rug or wall hanging, often with chain-stitch embroidery. Because it is built from recycled material, no two genuine pieces are identical; a perfectly uniform "gabba" is more likely printed fabric made to look like patchwork.

Papier-mâché: painted boxes, bowls and ornaments

Kashmiri papier-mâché is traditionally said to have come from Persia in the 14th century with the Sufi saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani and craftsmen among his followers. The process is slow: waste paper is soaked for weeks, pulped and layered over a mould, then the piece is smoothed, painted with fine brushes in floral and bird patterns, often with gold or silver foil, and varnished.

That process is your test. Genuine pieces are light, with fine, slightly uneven brushwork and small differences between repeated motifs. Printed or stencilled designs look flat and identical. Ask the seller whether a piece was made locally or brought in from elsewhere.

Walnut wood carving

Walnut carving uses timber from the walnut tree, which grows widely across Kashmir, carved into furniture, boxes, trays and panels with floral or chinar-leaf motifs. Hand-carved pieces have depth and slight variation between repeated motifs; machine-routed copies are shallower and identical from one motif to the next. Weight is a rough guide too: solid walnut is noticeably heavier than the softer woods sometimes substituted in cheaper pieces. Small boxes and trays travel well and are easy to judge.

Shawls and embroidery

Two kinds of fine shawl are sold in AJK: kani shawls, woven on a loom with small wooden bobbins, and sozni shawls, embroidered by hand with a needle after weaving. Genuine hand-made shawls of either kind take weeks or months and are priced accordingly; anything cheap and heavily patterned is almost certainly machine-made. Our guides to Kashmiri shawls and pashmina and the Kashmiri pheran cover these in more depth.

Spotting genuine work and paying a fair price

• Look for irregularity, not perfection. Hand-made textiles and carvings have small variations; machine-made items are exactly uniform.
• Ask directly where a piece was made. A seller of genuine work, local or not, will usually answer plainly.
• Compare prices across a few shops in the same bazaar before buying anything expensive. A wide range for similar items means quality, not just size, is driving the difference.
• Expect to negotiate, particularly for larger pieces in tourist-facing shops.
• Be sceptical of "antique" claims on cheap items; an honestly priced modern piece is a better buy than a doubtful old one.

We found no reliable published price list for any of these crafts in 2025 or 2026, so we do not quote figures; comparing three shops is the best guide.

Where to shop

The main bazaars in Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot carry the widest selection and the most competition, which makes comparing quality and price easier than at a single roadside stall. Our shopping in Muzaffarabad guide covers the city. For loi, pattu and simple carved pieces, the shops of the Neelum and Leepa valleys are closer to the makers. If you cannot travel into AJK, Lok Virsa in Islamabad is one of the places the craft corporation planned an outlet. See our Kashmir destination page for the wider region.

Is Azad Kashmir safe for overseas visitors?

Pakistani tourists visit every year, but as of September 2026 the UK government advises against all travel within 10 miles of the Line of Control, which includes most of the Neelum valley, and against all but essential travel to the rest of Azad Kashmir. The Joint Awami Action Committee protests that began in June 2026 were the deadliest unrest there in years, with road blockades and long internet shutdowns, and Wikipedia's account still listed them as ongoing in October 2026. If you hold a foreign passport, check your own government's advice, because travelling against it can void your insurance. Everyone should check local news before setting out.

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