Beyond the Facade of Azadi: POK’s Struggle for Political Autonomy

The territories of the so-called ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), known together as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), hold immense geostrategic significance while remaining at the heart of a deeply contested political discourse within the broader Kashmir issue. Despite ‘AJK’s ostensible branding as ‘Azad’ or ‘free’ and GB’s glorification as Pakistan’s ‘crown jewel’, these characterizations obscure a reality of constrained autonomy, overshadowed by Islamabad’s overarching federal control and the formidable grip of Pakistan’s security apparatus.