August 27, 2026
A Rangers soldier was killed and another wounded when armed men opened fire during an operation to clear road blockades between Sarsawa and Tararkhel, AJK police said.
August 5, 2026
Today Pakistan marks seven years since India stripped Kashmir of its special status. It marks it in the middle of an election, in the part of Kashmir it administers, where the seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees are the reason a civil rights movement was banned. Aflatoon on holding both facts at once.
August 3, 2026
The PPP says party worker Mushtaq Shah was killed in LA-31 and that acting AJK President Chaudhry Latif Akbar was assaulted by PML-N supporters during Sunday's polling. The PML-N denies the assaults, calls the incidents local disputes, and accuses the PPP of joining the banned JAAC to disrupt the vote.
August 2, 2026
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari says he has received the Joint Awami Action Committee's response to his letter proposing a commission, along with the group's own proposal. He called every loss of life a national tragedy and said his priority was ending the crisis and restoring normal life.
August 2, 2026
Polling has begun in 21 constituencies in the second phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir election — nine in Muzaffarabad division and all twelve refugee seats. A total of 207 candidates are contesting the divisional seats and 137 the refugee constituencies, the latter split evenly between Valley and Jammu refugees.
July 29, 2026
Law enforcement agencies are continuing operations against armed groups in Rawalakot, where the AJK police spokesperson says attackers have taken positions in buildings across the city. The clashes involve supporters of the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee, and Rawalakot sits in the division that votes last, on August 10.
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 24, 2026
Azad Jammu and Kashmir goes to the polls on July 27 for Phase 1 in Mirpur division, but the election arrives under extraordinary strain: approximately 30 people have died in pre-election unrest since June, the Joint Awami Action Committee has been banned under anti-terrorism law and its leader jailed, PTI is boycotting, and internet shutdowns continue across the territory. PPP's Bilawal Bhutto holds his final Muzaffarabad jalsa today. Whether a credible mandate can emerge from this environment is the central question before the first ballot is cast.
July 22, 2026
The AJK Election Commission has announced a three-phase election schedule with the 12 disputed refugee seats formally calendared for August 2. JAAC demanded these seats be abolished. The government's answer was not a political response — it was an administrative one. The calendar itself has become the constitution. By the time the ballots are printed, the argument is settled by scheduling.
Editor — Hamza Azhar Salam · Write to us with suggestions or tips
October 26, 2026
The Pakistan Daily
October 26, 2026
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