Elections 2011 in Kashmir

The Pakistani side of Kashmir usually called Azad Kashmir is a very peaceful and serene place it is sometimes also compared and related to the Paradise on earth.The Lovely People of this beautiful valley are very politically aware despite it being a very remote area.The Elections for the Azad Kashmir assembly which elects the government of Azad Kashmir are held separately not with the general elections in Pakistan.

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 Baluchistan, 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, one for technocrats and one for the ulema.
We have seen in the past that local leaders,parties and alliances backed by the major political parties of Pakistan takes part in the elections and form the government and opposition. But this time it is very different.The recently turned opposition of the ruling PPP alliance of Pakistan PML(N) lead by Mian Nawaz sharief (brother of chief Minister of Punjab shahbaz sharief)  wanted a direct battle with the PPP to prove that the Government of PPP is very unpopluar even though the outcome of kashmir elections does not effect the general election of Pakistan.
Interestingly the PPP fought back.The surprising speech of President Zardari just days before the elections in which he openly mentioned Mr Nawaz and retorted to all his recent allegations of mismanagement and corruption.President Zardari attacked the "mindset" of the opposition and blamed them for all the troubles Pakistan has faced and is facing including the one big issue of "Power & energy crisis "

June 26, 2011 Assembly Election on 37 seats were held. Total seats were 41 but election postponed due to poor law & order on 4 constituencies of Karachi Lahore & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.