Who’s Faisal Mumtaz Rathore? PPP’s newly-nominated AJK PM

MUZAFFARABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Friday nominated the party’s regional General Secretary Faisal Mumtaz Rathore for Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Shortly after his nomination for the AJK Prime Ministership, the PPP submitted a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq to the Special Secretary.

The party earlier instructed the assembly members to reach Muzaffarabad immediately.

Rathore was elected as a member of the Azad Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly (MLA) multiple times. He also remained Minister for Electricity and Minister for Local Government & Rural Development.

Born on April 11, 1978, in Rawalpindi, Faisal Mumtaz belongs to a distinguished political family deeply associated with the PPP since its inception in Azad Kashmir.

He is the son of Mumtaz Hussain Rathore, the late former Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, who served as Senior Minister after the 1975 elections, became Prime Minister in 1990, Leader of the Opposition in 1991, and later Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in 1996.

Faisal Rathore’s mother, Begum Farhat Rathore, was also a member of the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly and the President of the Women’s Section of the PPP.

He himself has been serving as Secretary General of PPP AJK since 2017, responsible for organisation, coordination, and party strategy at the regional level.

Rathore formally entered electoral politics in 2006, contesting on the LA-17 Haveli Kahuta seat. He secured his first victory in the 2011 elections and went on to serve as Minister for Education and Minister for Electricity in the cabinet of Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed.

In 2016, he was arrested in a politically motivated case but was later declared innocent.

On March 23, 2017, Faisal Rathore became the Secretary General of PPP Azad Kashmir. He was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2021 elections, where he played an active and assertive role in the opposition.

In 2023, he joined the coalition government of Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq as the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development. He also heads the government’s negotiation committee with the Awami Action Committee, where his soft-spoken and peace-oriented nature has earned him praise from political, military, and civil society circles.

Beyond politics, Faisal Rathore has also contributed to national media, hosting regular programs on Bol TV. Within the PPP, he is considered a close confidant of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Faryal Talpur, representing the party’s ideological and middle-class segment.

He was also appointed as head of the AJK government’s negotiating committee with the Awami Action Committee.