Azad Jammu and Kashmir polls: A regional election goes national

Election involves the population of AJK and other Kashmiris living across Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD:

Despite being a regional election, the AJK election is, in fact, a nationwide election since – by a quirk in the provisional constitution of the region – the Kashmiri diaspora spread throughout Pakistan is represented in the Legislative Assembly, and thus queues up to vote just like their relatives in Azad Jammu Kashmir itself.

Of the 41 directly elected seats for the AJK Legislative Assembly, 29 are based on the constituencies located within AJK itself and 12 represent the Kashmiri diaspora all over Pakistan. Nine of them are in Punjab, two in Sindh and Balochistan, mainly Karachi, and one for the Kashmiris settled in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

There are also eight reserved seats, of which one is for representation for Kashmiris living abroad, mainly in the United Kingdom. The remaining reserved seats include five for women.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2011.