MUZAFFARABAD: Senior PML-N leader and former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister Raja Farooq Haider has said he is considering setting up a forum of thinkers and other prominent personalities to encourage serious and substantive debate on the issues confronting the territory and help evolve practical solutions to them.
“The forum will not only identify and examine the issues confronting our state but also propose result-oriented solutions to the government and other relevant institutions to address public concerns and help restore a peaceful environment,” he told a group of senior journalists at his residence on Sunday.
“This state has given us a status and identity. If I talk about myself, I have held ministerial positions, the coveted office of prime minister and that of leader of the opposition, besides other political offices. I think it is time for us to give something back to our state in whatever way we can,” he said.
Mr Haider disclosed that he had recently planned to invite prominent personalities from Poonch and Sudhnoti, including former senior civil and military officers, academics and independent thinkers, to Kashmir House in Islamabad to deliberate on the situation prevailing in the two districts and explore ways of defusing tensions.
However, the volatile political situation in Islamabad, amid threats of long marches by some political groups, prevented him from implementing the plan, he said.
“Poonch has produced people whom the state can rightly be proud of.
They have served the country in the highest positions and earned respect and honour for themselves and their homeland.
Unfortunately, the prevailing situation has created a negative impression about the entire area, which is absolutely unfair and untrue,” he said.
“I want prominent people from Poonch to sit together at a designated place, discuss the situation independently and suggest what can and should be done to restore order and normalcy throughout the division,” he added.
Mr Haider, who has repeatedly criticised the approach adopted by the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), has recently advocated dialogue as the only viable way to address the situation.
He has also urged newly elected President Dr Najeeb Naqi and Prime Minister Iftikhar Gillani to engage with the committee’s representatives, listen to their demands and try to understand the reasons behind their grievances.
He reiterated his warning to the protesters that an “uncalled-for” confrontational approach and continued “stubbornness” could endanger the broader institutional and constitutional framework of the state.
“Differences and grievances within a system should be addressed through dialogue and corrective measures, not by seeking to dismantle the entire system.
If there is a problem in one part of a house, the answer is to repair that part, not pull down the whole house,” he said.
Mr Haider said the same principle applied to the state’s institutions and governance structure, stressing that problems could be corrected without putting the entire system at risk.
Responding to a question, he said he had advised Prime Minister Gillani to establish effective administrative control and improve governance in order to meet the expectations of both the people and those who had entrusted him with the responsibility of running the government.
Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2026
