Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Barrister Syed Iftikhar Gilani visited Rawalakot on Tuesday to review the region’s ground realities and discuss practical solutions to public issues, according to reports of the visit.
The prime minister was received by the AJK Police on his arrival. During the visit he went to the Combined Military Hospital in Rawalakot, where he met public delegations and held discussions with lawyers on a range of issues facing the area.
Gilani was briefed by the district administration and police at the Commissioner Office Poonch. Chief Secretary Khushal Khan and Inspector General of Police Captain (retired) Liaquat Ali Malik accompanied him during the visit.
Addressing media representatives, the prime minister described Poonch as a historic region and paid tribute to its people for their sacrifices in the Kashmir freedom movement. He recalled their resistance against Dogra rule and said their contribution would remain unforgettable.
Turning to the situation in Rawalakot, Gilani said road blockades had disrupted daily life, affecting students’ access to schools and patients’ ability to reach hospitals. He said no governance issue in Azad Kashmir was serious enough to justify disturbing law and order.
He added that the future of the younger generation should not be put at risk because of the actions of a few individuals, and stressed that public problems should be resolved through practical discussion rather than disruption.
The visit comes at a sensitive time for the region, where protests and a sit-in by the Joint Awami Action Committee have strained daily life in parts of Azad Kashmir in recent months. Reports of the visit also noted an additional month’s salary announced for police personnel, though details of further announcements were still emerging.
Gilani’s message in Rawalakot was, in essence, an appeal for calm alongside a promise of engagement: the government would listen to public delegations and work on solutions, but it would not accept the disruption of normal life. How that balance is received in Rawalakot and the wider Poonch division will become clearer in the days ahead.
