Freedom in the World reports assess the level of political rights and civil liberties in a given geographical area, regardless of whether they are affected by the state, nonstate actors, or foreign powers. Related, disputed, or occupied territories are sometimes assessed separately if they meet certain criteria, including distinct conditions for political rights and civil liberties and boundaries that are sufficiently stable to allow year-on-year comparisons. For more information, see the report methodology and FAQ.

Pakistani Kashmir is administered as two territories: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). Each has an elected assembly and government with limited autonomy, but they lack the parliamentary representation and other rights of Pakistani provinces, and Pakistani federal institutions have predominant influence over security, the courts, and most important policy matters. Politics within the two territories are carefully managed to promote the idea of Kashmir’s eventual accession to Pakistan. Freedoms of expression and association, and any political activity deemed contrary to Pakistan’s policy on Kashmir, are restricted.

• The Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a broad civil society alliance in AJK that united leftist and nationalist groups with associations of traders and professionals, continued to press its demands for economic and governance reforms during the year, challenging state restrictions on freedom of assembly. In addition to other, smaller protests, the JAAC organized a week of marches, strikes, and demonstrations in May; while authorities responded with tear gas, internet blackouts, arrests, and gunfire that killed three protesters, the government eventually granted the committee’s demands regarding wheat and electricity prices and the privileges enjoyed by elite public officials. In November, however, the AJK government issued a presidential ordinance that would require protest organizers to obtain registration and permission in advance, with violations drawing penalties of up to three years in prison. The JAAC mounted fresh demonstrations in opposition to the measure in December, compelling the government to withdraw its ordinance and grant several other economic and governance concessions.
• Public advocacy on behalf of the AJK protest movement carried the risk of reprisals from the authorities. In one prominent case, Kashmiri poet Ahmed Farhad Shah was abducted in May from his residence in Islamabad, apparently by intelligence agents, after using social media to share information about the demonstrations in AJK. He later reappeared in the custody of the AJK police after his wife petitioned a court in Islamabad, and he was released after about a month in detention.
• In GB, the territory’s own Awami Action Committee (AAC)—led by traders’ associations, political and religious groups, and civil society activists—organized a series of mass mobilizations in January to advance a 15-point list of demands related to GB’s economic conditions and lack of political autonomy. The government granted some concessions on wheat prices and taxes, but the AAC persisted with its campaign, holding events throughout the year. AAC leaders spoke out against the authorities’ efforts to file terrorism and cybercrime cases against them, which restricted their ability to travel and access services.
• The high-profile abduction case of Falak Noor highlighted GB’s lack of a statutory minimum age for marriage and the weakness of legal protections against forced and child marriages. Her parents said that the girl—who was reportedly 12 or 13 years old, according to legal documents—had been kidnapped, taken to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, and forcibly married, but the GB Chief Court ruled in April that she could remain with her purported husband and his family. Human rights activists called for the marriage age to be set at 18 in accordance with international law.
• In December, a GB antiterrorism court sentenced former Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid Khan (2020–23) of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to 34 years in prison for supposedly threatening security institutions in remarks he made at a 2023 PTI rally.

This report has been abridged for Freedom in the World 2025 due to ongoing budget constraints. Freedom in the World is entirely funded by nongovernmental sources such as private foundations, corporations, and individuals like you. Please consider making a donation to support future editions of this vital resource.

For additional background information, see last year’s full report.