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Pakistani Islamist parties tap electorate anger over Israel-Hamas war
Nikkei Asia ^

Posted on 11/26/2023 5:32:00 PM PST by FarCenter

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's Islamist political parties are playing up support for the Palestinian group Hamas in its war with Israel, aiming to tap into domestic public anger as the country prepares for elections early next year.

After Hamas militants triggered the latest round of the conflict by storming from Gaza into Israel and killing an estimated 1,200 people in early October, Pakistan's caretaker government adopted a relatively measured tone, urging restraint and the protection of civilians. As Israel's retaliation has killed more than 13,000 in Gaza, according to Hamas health officials, the Pakistani administration has hardened its rhetoric but not gone far beyond boilerplate condemnations of Israel, with which it has no diplomatic relations.

Among the general public, meanwhile, images of devastation from Gaza have struck a chord and appear to have deepened already pervasive anti-Israel sentiment. A survey by Gallup Pakistan this month found that 91% of respondents backed Hamas in the conflict, while only 2% expressed support for Israel. A youth-led boycott campaign against Western companies, seen as being aligned with Israel, is gaining traction.

It is in this climate that Islamist parties are seeking to expand their voter bases, with Pakistan's general election now slated for Feb. 8.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), Pakistan's largest Islamist party, is at the forefront of supporting Hamas. Molana Fazal ur Rehman, the chief of JUI-F, traveled to Doha on Nov. 5 to meet Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal and expressed solidarity with them.

"I am proud of our leader, Molana Fazal ur Rehman, who is doing his best to help our Muslim brothers in Gaza," Noorullah, a 25-year-old supporter of JUI-F, told Nikkei Asia. "That's why my family will continue voting for [JUI-F]."

Palestinian diplomats and leaders based in Pakistan are regularly asked to speak at protest rallies organized by JUI-F.

Other Islamist parties, such as Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), have also held huge rallies in support of Hamas. Siraj ul Haq, the JI chief, visited Doha on Nov. 12 and met Hamas' top leadership.

Experts say the optics of meeting Hamas officials in Doha are important for these parties, as they seek an advantage over the mainstream forces in Pakistani politics -- the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of former prime ministers Nazaz and Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former leader Imran Khan and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

"Since mainstream parties such as PTI, PML-N, and PPP are not raising the issue of Gaza, Islamist parties not only plan to get votes [based] on this issue but also donations in the name of Palestine," said Sabookh Syed, an independent analyst in Islamabad who covers religious extremism.


TOPICS: Gaza; Hamas; Israel; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: gaza; hamas; israel; pakistan; war; waronterror

1 posted on 11/26/2023 5:32:00 PM PST by FarCenter
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To: FarCenter

Savages supporting other savages. Who’d have thought /sarc


2 posted on 11/26/2023 5:36:23 PM PST by Long Jon No Silver (Rrily)
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To: FarCenter
Israel can't win a PR war with these people - with the world MSM on the side of the animals.

They should just kill as many ragheads as they think necessary.

3 posted on 11/26/2023 5:40:12 PM PST by grobdriver (The CDC can KMA!)
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To: FarCenter

Pakis will probably be the first to launch nukes when WWIII kicks off.


4 posted on 11/26/2023 5:41:18 PM PST by ChuckHam
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To: FarCenter

Pakistan is a $hit show anyway


5 posted on 11/26/2023 5:43:16 PM PST by butlerweave
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To: FarCenter
... JUI-F, ...

Juif is French for Jewish.

6 posted on 11/26/2023 5:50:31 PM PST by 17th Miss Regt ( )
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To: ChuckHam

It’s far more likely that the Pakistani government will disintegrate, and they’ll lose control over their nuclear weapons. Due to fear the US or India will attempt to take the weapons with a lightning raid, the Pakistanis have taken to shuttling the weapons around in unmarked vans.

Several years ago, the Pakistani army started attacking targets in lands that are nominally Pakistani territory but are not actually under their control. According to an Indian intelligence report this was in an effort to recover a stolen nuclear weapon. The internal (war? police action?) stopped abruptly and I suppose they recovered the weapon. At least I never saw anything on it again and nothing big has blown up. But right now, Pakistan makes North Korea look as stable as the UK.

It’s likely that the first inter-state nuclear conflict will be between two Muslim powers as they hate each other much more than anyone else. Think of the medieval Catholic vs. Protestant wars, but with nukes.


7 posted on 11/26/2023 6:01:08 PM PST by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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To: FarCenter
Boy, we sure are lucky that George W. Bush used the aftermath of 9/11 to take away Pakistan's nukes!

Oh never mind, he bent over for Al Queda's BFF Musharraf. Oh well.


8 posted on 11/26/2023 6:13:00 PM PST by montag813
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...
November 20, 1979, the self-appointed mahdi and his stooges seized the Mecca's Great Mosque, and the muzzies worldwide blamed the jihadist attack on the US and Israel. An angry mob stormed and burned the US consulate in Karachi. A few years later, Zero took a vacation [sic] in Pakistan. When he was fake POTUS, he offered money, and help with its nuclear weapons program, and to put pressure on India regarding Kashmir, if Islamabad stopped supporting Kashmir's Islamofascist terrorists. Pakistan turned him down.

9 posted on 11/26/2023 8:17:44 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: FarCenter

.


10 posted on 11/27/2023 12:01:06 AM PST by sauropod (The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly.)
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