September 8, 2026
Pakistan's satellite internet licensing framework requires operators to build gateways on Pakistani soil, route all domestic traffic through them and enable interception — and explicitly excludes AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan, where coverage would help most.
July 28, 2026
Unofficial and provisional results from the first phase of Azad Jammu and Kashmir's Legislative Assembly election give the PML-N nine of the thirteen Mirpur division seats and the PPP four. The party governing at the centre swept all three Bhimber constituencies and took four of six in Kotli.
July 27, 2026
Voting began at 8am across Mirpur division in the first of three phases of Azad Jammu and Kashmir's Legislative Assembly election, with more than 1.4 million registered voters eligible to choose between 296 candidates for 13 seats. The PTI is boycotting, and the poll is running under a federal deployment of 16,800 security personnel.
July 26, 2026
Campaigning in Mirpur division ended at midnight, putting the first phase of Azad Jammu and Kashmir's Legislative Assembly election into its silence period. The AJK government has declared Monday a public holiday across the division so voters can reach the polls, and the administration says security and polling arrangements are complete.
July 25, 2026
Azad Kashmir will vote in three phases across two weeks, not because of any administrative convenience, but because there are not enough army contingents to secure all three divisions at once. Aflatoon considers what it means when the calendar of an election is set by the movement schedule of the troops that make it possible.
July 25, 2026
Campaigning for the July 27 Mirpur-division phase of Azad Jammu and Kashmir's staggered general election ends at midnight tonight under Section 112 of the AJK Election Act, capping a final push led by Nawaz Sharif's rally in Mirpur. The poll comes amid a PTI boycott, a 16,800-strong federal security deployment and months of unrest linked to the banned JAAC that authorities say has killed nearly 30 people.
July 20, 2026
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir general election is seven days away with party campaigns now at their most intensive. PML-N has confirmed rallies for Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is conducting daily meetings across the region with rallies through July 24. PTI is maintaining its boycott of the July 27 polls, though the party is divided internally, with some candidates having initially filed papers before the boycott announcement. The contest has narrowed to PPP, PML-N and independent candidates.
July 20, 2026
The JAAC's deferred long march deadline falls at midnight on July 21 — less than 24 hours away. The government has maintained its position that the committee's most contested demand, abolition of 12 reserved assembly seats for Kashmiri migrants, is constitutionally non-negotiable. JAAC has said the march on Muzaffarabad resumes July 22 if the demand is not met. With the AJK election six days away and final campaign rallies planned through July 24, a resumed march would run directly through the election campaign window.
July 19, 2026
Pakistan's Election Commission has confirmed the Azad Jammu and Kashmir general elections will proceed on July 27 as scheduled, with army contingents deployed across the region to ensure peaceful polling in all 53 constituencies. The confirmation comes as the JAAC's long march deadline on July 21 and election day on July 27 converge, with 846 candidates registered to contest and 3.8 million voters on the rolls. PTI, which won the previous AJK elections, is boycotting the vote.
July 19, 2026
The JAAC's long march deadline falls on Monday, July 21 — two days away — with the government still unable to meet the committee's central demand on reserved assembly seats, which it has called constitutionally non-negotiable. Meanwhile AJK election campaigns are at their peak: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is campaigning daily across the region, PML-N is planning Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz rallies in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur, and PTI is maintaining its boycott. The July 21 deadline and July 27 polling day are six days apart.
Editor — Hamza Azhar Salam · Write to us with suggestions or tips
The Pakistan Daily
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