Imagine being an ordinary voter with no control over the political dispute unfolding around you. You did not call the protest, impose restrictions or decide to postpone an election. Yet when political actors clash, your ability to vote, travel, communicate and participate becomes uncertain. That has been the experience of residents of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) for almost three months as the Legislative Assembly election has unfolded amid strikes, a banned political movement, a communications blackout and a revised polling schedule. Beneath the political noise lies a fundamental question: what does democracy mean to citizens when the actors fighting over power make meaningful participation more difficult? The unrest dates back to late May, when talks between the government in Muzaffarabad and the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) collapsed. What began as a campaign over economic grievances developed into a demand for abolishing the 12 AJK Assembly seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees who migrated to Pakistan after 1947. JAAC argued that the reserved seats allow Pakistan’s mainstream political parties to influence AJK’s government. The state and refugee representatives, however, maintained that the seats were based on the 1947 settlement and later formalised through the 1974 Interim Constitution. On June 5, authorities declared JAAC a proscribed organisation, while internet and mobile services were suspended. The confrontation escalated into road blockades, strikes and a long march on Rawalakot, followed by clashes........

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