Government
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is a self-governing state under Pakistani control but is not constitutionally part of Pakistan. It has its own elected president, prime minister, legislature, high court, and official flag. The government of Pakistan has not yet allowed the state to issue its own postage stamps, however, and Pakistani stamps are used in the state instead. Azad Kashmir has it own Judiciary as well with Khawaja Shahad Ahmad as its present Chief Justice.
Azad Kashmir's financial matters, i.e., budget and tax affairs, are dealt with by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council, rather than by Pakistan's Central Board of Revenue. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council is a supreme body consisting of 11 members, six from the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and five from the government of Pakistan. Its chairman/chief executive is the president of Pakistan. Other members of the council are the president and the prime minister of Azad Kashmir and a few other AJK ministers.
The human rights of the inhabitants of Azad Kashmir has been the subject of controversy. Brad Adams, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch said in 2006, "Although ‘azad’ means ‘free,’ the residents of Azad Kashmir are anything but, The Pakistani authorities govern Azad Kashmir with strict controls on basic freedoms."
The state is administratively divided into three divisions which, in turn, are divided into ten districts.
| Division | District | Area (km²) | Population (1998) | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mirpur | Bhimber | 1,516 | 301,633 | Bhimber |
| Kotli | 1,862 | 563,094 | Kotli | |
| Mirpur | 1,010 | 333,482 | Mirpur | |
| Muzaffarabad | Muzaffarabad | 2,496 | 638,973 | Muzaffarabad |
| Hattian | ? | ? | Hattian Bala | |
| Neelum | 3,621 | 106,778 | Athmuqam | |
| Poonch | Poonch | 855 | 411,035 | Rawalakot |
| Haveli | 600 (est.) | 150,000 (est.) | Forward Kahuta | |
| Bagh | 768 | 243,415 | Bagh | |
| Sudhnati | 569 | 334,091 | Pallandari | |
| AJK Total | 10 districts | 13,297 | 2,972,501 | Muzaffarabad |
Read more about this topic: Azad Kashmir
Famous quotes containing the word government:
“There exists in a great part of the Northern people a gloomy diffidence in the moral character of the government. On the broaching of this question, as general expression of despondency, of disbelief that any good will accrue from a remonstrance on an act of fraud and robbery, appeared in those men to whom we naturally turn for aid and counsel. Will the American government steal? Will it lie? Will it kill?—We ask triumphantly.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“His Majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
—A.J. (Arthur James)
“Visit the Navy-Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts,—a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)