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Azad Jammu and Kashmir, abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity and constituting the western portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. The territory shares a border to the north with Gilgit-Baltistan, together with which it is referred to by the United Nations and other international organizations as "Pakistani-administered Kashmir". Azad Kashmir also shares borders with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south and west, respectively. On its eastern side, Azad Kashmir is separated from the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir by the Line of Control (LoC), which serves as the de facto border between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir. Geographically, the administrative territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir covers a total area of 13,297 km2 (5,134 sq mi) and has a total population of 4,045,366 as per the 2017 national census.
The Poonch District is one of the 10 districts of Pakistan's dependent territory of Azad Kashmir. The Poonch District is bounded on the north by the Bagh District, on the north-east by the Haveli District, on the south-east by the Poonch District of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, on the south by the Sudhanoti District and the Kotli District, and on the west by the Rawalpindi District of Pakistan's Punjab Province. The Poonch District is part of the greater Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. The district headquarters is the city of Rawalakot. It is the 3rd most populus district of Azad Kashmir.
Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan was the key instigator of the 1947 Poonch Rebellion in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in British India and the later establishment of Azad Kashmir under Pakistani administrative control. He served as the first President of Azad Kashmir. His dismissal in 1950 led to the 1955 Poonch Uprising against Pakistan. He served as the president thrice afterwards, ending his last term in 2001.
Chakswari, also known as Chaksawari, is a Tehsil in the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. It comprises 15 Union councils including the Islamgarh Municipal Committee. Amongst the primary affectees of the Mangla Dam upraising project were Chakswari and Islamgarh. Chakswari is 26 miles or 41.84 km from Mirpur. The political constituency code for Chakswari and Islamgarh is LA-2.
Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry is a politician who hails from Azad Kashmir. He served as Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir between July 1996 to July 2001 and is currently serving as the President of Azad Kashmir since 25 August 2021.
Abdur Rasheed Turabi is a well-known politician of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. He was the Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Azad Kashmir till July 2017. Dr Khalid Mahmood is his successor and newly elected Ameer of JI AJK. He is a well known columnist and also has written books giving the guidelines of solution of Kashmir dispute. He remained President of Islami-e-Jamiat Talaba Kashmir Chapter (1974–76). He participated greatly in the freedom movement of Kashmir. He is member of Legislative Assembly of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. He is also member of Muslim World league.
The Pakistan-administered state of Azad Kashmir was officially established on 24 October 1947. The president is the constitutional head while the prime minister is the chief executive of the state. The president elected by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly for term of 5 years under the provisions of Azad Jammu & Kashmir Act, 1974.
Raja Farooq Haider Khan is a Kashmiri politician and former Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K). He is a senior member of the Pakistan Muslim League (N).
Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan was elected the 22nd president of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan on 25 August 2011. Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan was a business tycoon before a politician he owns a trading company, hotels, towers, housing societies, and overseas business. He owns the YK group of companies.
The Special Communications Organization (SCO) is Pakistani public sector organization operated by MoIT&T. SCO plays a role in providing telecommunication services in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan to almost 1.7 million people, a quarter of the total population.
Sahibzada Muhammad Ishaq Zaffar also known as Ishaq Zaffar (1945–2006) was a Pakistani politician in Azad Kashmir administrative territory. He filled various positions in the Azad Kashmir government from the 1970s until dying in office in 2006, beginning as a member of the Pakistan People's Party, serving as member of the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Speaker of the Assembly, Acting President of Azad Kashmir, and senior minister, and was opposition leader in the constituent assembly at the time of his death. He contested elections for constituent assembly of Azad Kashmir for five times and always won assembly seat.
The Government of Azad Kashmir is the state government which administers one of the territories of Pakistani-administered Kashmir territories of Azad Kashmir. The Azad Kashmir government consists of a president as head of state and a prime minister as chief executive, with the support of a council of ministers. The state assembly is the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly.
Abdul Quayyum Raja is an AJK born man, who is a social and political reformer, and founder chairman of International Solidarity and Peace Initiative for Kashmir. He lectured several universities including Istanbul Uni on a peaceful solution to Jammu Kashmir. He got a Master in social sciences and diploma of journalism from London. He authored several books including Islamic diplomacy and human rights and also translated several books. He regularly writes a column titled "Haq-Gohi" meaning Speaking the Truth and occasionally contributes to local and international English dailies. He is well travelled. Raja served more than 22 years in UK prison extrajudicially, where he was kept in prison by the Home Secretary for an alleged involvement in the killing of an Indian diplomat. He was not found guilty of kidnapping while the sentence on killing was given secretly only to be quashed by the London High Court. He was still not released. Eventually, the European Court of Human Rights released Raja in 2005, on what appeared to be a politically motivated sentence, and removed the British Home Secretary's discretionary powers to interfere with the judiciary. The killer of the diplomat is still at large. He was kidnapped by a group of Kashmiris in an attempt to prevent the Indian government to hang the Maqbool Butt, the founding father of the independence movement of Jammu Kashmir.
Bank of Azad Jammu & Kashmir is the state-owned bank of Government of Azad Kashmir which is based in Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir. It was founded in 2005.
The Supreme Court of Azad Jammu & Kashmir is the highest court of appeal in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It consists of a Chief Justice and two other Judges.
LA-39 is a constituency of Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly which is currently represented by Raja Muhammad Siddique of Pakistan Muslim League (N). It covers the area of Rawalpindi Division Islamabad Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. Only refugees from Jammu and Ladakh settled in Pakistan are eligible to vote.
Kashmiris in Azad Kashmir are the ethnic Kashmiri people who reside in Azad Kashmir, a territory which constitutes part of Pakistani-administered Kashmir since the end of the First Kashmir War. Their demographic includes up to 40,000 registered Kashmiri refugees who have fled the Kashmir Valley, located in Indian-administered Kashmir, to Pakistan since the late 1980s due to conflict in the region. As of 2010, only around 60 percent of Kashmiri refugees had acquired Pakistani citizenship.
The Interim Constitution of Azad Jammu and Kashmir provides for an apparently transitory autonomous parliamentary framework of self-governance and power sharing for the region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, defined by the act as the "territories of the State of Jammu and Kashmir which have been liberated by the people of that State and for the time being under the administration of Government and such other territories as may hereafter come under its administration", however it does not pertain to areas such as Gilgit, Hunza and Baltistan. The act succeeded and re-enacted the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Government Act, 1970 with modifications. It was promulgated under the Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The constitution has been amended 14 times. It is based on the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.
The Azad Jammu & Kashmir Election Commission is an independent, autonomous, permanent and constitutionally established body responsible for organizing and conducting elections to the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Kashmir council, local governments, and the office of President of Azad Kashmir, as well as the delimitation of constituencies and preparation of electoral rolls. In accordance with the principles set down in the Interim Constitution of AJK, the commission makes the necessary measures to guarantee that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly, and in compliance with the law, and that corrupt practices are prevented.
References
- 1 2 On the bench: Raja Sadaqat appointed to AJK high court The Express Tribune (newspaper), Published 24 March 2016, Retrieved 24 January 2021
- ↑ MA Mir (10 August 2016). "AJK presidency: Court allows former diplomat to contest poll". The Express Tribune (newspaper). Retrieved 24 January 2021.
