分类： politics

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Early official results from the first two phases of legislative assembly elections in Pakistan-administered Kashmir show Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) holding an overwhelming early lead, defying weeks of destabilizing protests and organized boycott calls from a recently banned opposition group.

Raja Shakeel, spokesperson for the region’s independent election commission, confirmed Wednesday that candidates backed by PML-N have secured 24 of the 34 seats decided in the first two rounds of voting. Even with 11 remaining seats set to go to the polls on August 10, election observers already project the party is on an unassailable path to form the next regional government — marking PML-N’s return to power in the territory after a 10-year absence.

Election officials extended voting across three phases to address two overlapping challenges: persistent security threats from unrest and severe disruption from annual monsoon rains, which made large-scale outdoor campaign rallies logistically unfeasible and dangerous. Despite these headwinds and the boycott campaign, voter turnout has outperformed many expectations: regional data shows turnout surpassed 50% across most voting areas, hitting 56% in the regional capital of Muzaffarabad.

The electoral process was overshadowed for weeks by demonstrations led by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), an opposition group that was formally banned by the regional government over public order and national security concerns shortly before voting began. The JAAC has centered its protest on 12 legislative seats reserved for refugees displaced from Indian-controlled Kashmir following the 1947 partition of British India. The group argues these seats give unfair disproportionate political influence to people residing outside Pakistan-administered Kashmir and has repeatedly called for the reserved seats to be eliminated entirely. The controversy escalated in June when the region’s Supreme Court ruled that the reserved seats are constitutionally protected, and can only be altered through a formal constitutional amendment, a process that requires approval from the elected legislative assembly.

The reserved seats were first established to guarantee political representation for displaced families who settled across mainland Pakistan after partition, when Pakistan-administered Kashmir lacked the infrastructure and resources to accommodate a large influx of new residents. Decades later, many descendants of these displaced families still reside across Pakistan, while others have since relocated to the Pakistan-administered Kashmir region.

In the lead-up to voting, repeated clashes broke out between JAAC supporters and local police. Regional authorities have further alleged that members of the Pakistani Taliban have infiltrated JAAC protests to disrupt the democratic process, claims the JAAC has not issued any formal response to. Despite these threats of violence, the majority of registered voters turned out to cast their ballots, exercising their democratic right amid widespread insecurity.

Political analysts note that the strong turnout and rejection of the boycott campaign signals broad public confidence in the regional democratic process, even amid longstanding political tension. In a formal statement following the release of early results, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif offered congratulations to all winning candidates for their successful campaigns.

The Kashmir region has remained one of the world’s longest-running territorial disputes: both nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan administer separate portions of the Himalayan territory, while each claims full sovereignty over the entire region. Since both states gained independence from British rule in 1947, two of the three full-scale wars fought between the two nations have been over control of Kashmir.

On a Wednesday marked by overlapping symbolic events tied to Bangladesh’s 2024 political upheaval, ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina made a defiant declaration from her exile in India: she intends to return to her homeland this December, even as a capital punishment sentence hangs over her head for the deadly 2024 crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Hasina delivered the announcement via an audio address at a New Delhi event commemorating the second anniversary of the student-led uprising that forced her from power. The 15-year incumbent prime minister fled to India in 2024 as mass protests swept across Bangladesh, and has remained in exile outside her country ever since. In 2025, a Bangladeshi court convicted her in absentia of crimes against humanity for ordering the violent response to the uprising, sentencing her to death. A United Nations report on the unrest recorded that nearly 1,400 people lost their lives during the crackdown, charges that Hasina has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Facing legal jeopardy that could cost her life, Hasina framed her planned return as a non-negotiable responsibility to the people of Bangladesh. “I know that they may put me in jail, or they may kill me, or anything may happen, but still I have to go back,” she stated. “Fear cannot decide my duty to the people.” She also used the address to push for two key political demands: the lifting of the current ban on her Awami League party, and the release of all political detainees being held under the current administration.

Bangladesh’s current government has repeatedly requested India extradite Hasina to face her sentence, but New Delhi has thus far refused to hand the former leader over. The status of that extradition request remains unchanged as of Hasina’s latest announcement.

Half a world away in Dhaka, the same day brought a separate event that cemented the legacy of the uprising that ended Hasina’s rule: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman officially opened the July Mass Uprising Memorial Museum, installed in Hasina’s former official residence. The memorial initiative was first launched by the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who took office just three days after Hasina fled the country in 2024. Yunus joined Rahman for the inauguration ceremony.

The museum preserves the story of the 2024 uprising through immersive exhibits, including audio and video footage of the unrest, personal effects of protesters killed during the crackdown, contemporaneous newspaper clippings, and documentation of alleged systemic political repression that occurred during Hasina’s 15 years in power.

Rahman, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and Hasina’s long-standing political archrival, won a landslide election victory in February 2025, in a vote administered by Yunus’ interim government. Hasina’s Awami League was blocked from participating in that electoral contest. The report on Hasina’s announcement was filed by contributing journalist Alam based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Pakistan’s federal government has introduced sweeping new regulations governing international media reporting across most of the country, triggering fierce condemnation from journalist groups and press freedom advocates who warn the rules will further erode independent coverage and create fertile ground for disinformation.

Announced on Sunday under the official title of the *Foreign Media Facilitation Guidelines, 2026*, the new requirements mandate that every individual working for international media outlets — including Pakistani citizens, freelance contributors and local fixers — must obtain a government-issued No Objection Certificate (NOC) to report from any location outside of Pakistan’s three largest cities: Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore. The policy leaves all on-the-ground reporting outside these major urban centers completely at the discretion of federal authorities.

The move comes as Pakistan already ranks 153rd out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, reflecting long-standing challenges to open journalism in the nation of 240 million people. Critics note that while media restrictions have a long history in Pakistan, domestic outlets have traditionally faced greater pressure than their international counterparts, which many Pakistanis rely on for unfiltered reporting on sensitive issues.

“These guidelines are tantamount to choking international media in an increasingly shrinking space,” said Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, a prominent Pakistani political commentator. “The public looks at the international media for independent reporting. Placing restrictions simply creates more room for disinformation and spread of fake news.”

The regulations do not include any clear timeline for processing NOC applications, a gap that mirrors existing approval processes for foreign journalists. Many international correspondents have previously reported waiting months for NOC approval, or receiving no response at all — a delay that effectively blocks coverage of breaking news events from outside the three permitted cities. To avoid these bottlenecks, international outlets have long relied on Pakistani contributors based in or able to travel freely to regions like Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Pakistan-administered Kashmir; under the new rules, all of these contributors will now require official approval to work on stories.

Zaffar Abbas, veteran editor of Pakistan’s leading English-language newspaper *Dawn*, called the new rules “ridiculous restrictions and are totally unacceptable.” With more than four decades of journalistic experience in Pakistan spanning military dictatorships and authoritarian civilian governments, Abbas noted he has never encountered such sweeping limits on reporting. “To ask journalists to get an NOC for travelling outside the three major cities not just undermines freedom of movement but also freedom of the press,” he added.

In its official defense of the policy, the Pakistani government has rejected claims that the guidelines are intended to restrict reporting, framing the rules instead as a neutral “administrative mechanism” to verify media credentials, coordinate reporting requests, and facilitate access to restricted regions. Government officials further argue that any accreditation system must retain the authority to revoke credentials for journalists who engage in activity that threatens national security or public order.

The guidelines include a provision allowing authorities to revoke a journalist’s accreditation for “acts against ideology, sovereignty, security or public order of Pakistan” — a broadly worded clause that Khokhar has called “vague,” warning it opens the door to arbitrary enforcement against critical reporting.

Legal experts have also raised red flags about the policy’s legal foundation. Salhuddin Ahmed, a lawyer practicing before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, says the guidelines have no basis in statutory law. “These ‘guidelines’ are merely an executive order and lack any legal backing from statute,” Ahmed explained. “They refer to the rules of business; those rules are only meant to regulate the internal functioning of government, not create legal obligations on others. Quite clearly, these guidelines are a hastily and ill-thought-out attempt to further curb independent reporting in Pakistan.”
The government counters that the rules are a valid regulation of the Information Ministry’s External Publicity wing’s administrative relationship with foreign media, falling within the scope of existing government business rules.

Press freedom advocates, including a coalition of international journalists and the president of Pakistan’s Federal Union of Journalists, are currently working to arrange a meeting with Pakistan’s information minister to formally raise their objections to the new policy.

Observers have pointed to ongoing unrest in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PAK) as a key trigger for the new restrictions. The region has seen two months of violent clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces that have left dozens dead, amid a local election boycott and sweeping internet shutdowns that have made independent verification of events extremely difficult.

Just one day after the new guidelines were announced, the External Publicity wing sent an urgent WhatsApp message to international media outlets ordering all journalists currently in PAK to “return back IMMEDIATELY” and apply for an NOC if they wish to report from the region. The message was sent after multiple major international outlets, including the BBC, published on-the-ground reports from the disputed territory.

Earlier this week, the Qatari news network Al Jazeera’s website became inaccessible to users within Pakistan after the Information Ministry labeled a correspondent’s report from PAK’s regional capital “yellow journalism” — a term referring to sensationalized, inaccurate reporting. No formal public ban on the outlet has been announced, however.

Kashmir is one of the world’s most long-standing disputed territories, with both India and Pakistan claiming full sovereignty over the region while each controls only a portion of it. Coverage of unrest in Pakistan-administered Kashmir has long been an extremely politically sensitive topic for the Pakistani government. Two local Pakistani journalists speaking to the BBC confirmed they had been explicitly warned by their editors to avoid covering the ongoing unrest.