ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) chief Imran Khan is seeking support of influential spiritual leaders and religious clerics before the elections on July 25, causing analysts to warn this may lead to an upsurge of extremism in the country.
“We are a Muslim-majority nation and there is nothing wrong in discussing religion in public rallies,” Azhar Laghari, head of PTI’s public relations wing, told Arab News on Sunday.
He said Khan had recently visited a number of spiritual and religious leaders across the Punjab province on their invitation.
“We are seeking their support because they have a huge following in their respective areas,” he added. “If their support can help us win elections, why shouldn’t we approach them?”
Laghari said his party was trying to unite the nation by relying on the teachings of Islam. “Peace and love is the message of our religion and we are trying to spread it through our massive public rallies,” he noted.
However, the PTI chairman touched upon a politically sensitive subject while addressing a gathering of religious clerics and custodians of different shrines on Saturday, demanding that a committee report on a now-withdrawn controversial amendment to the Khatam-e-Nabuwat (finality of prophethood) oath be made public.
“The report should be made public so that people find out why the amendment was made,” Khan said. “All those who were part of this conspiracy should be punished.”
Zahid Hamid, law minister in the last Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) administration, had to resign over the issue, after violent protests across the country against his government, since he was thought to be at the center of the Khatam-e-Nabuwat controversy.
Senator Mushahidullah Khan, PML-N’s central information secretary, told Arab News that all parliamentary parties were part of the Electoral Reforms Committee that introduced the controversial amendment to the oath.
“It was a collective mistake and was immediately rectified when brought to the notice of the government,” he said.
Khan added that the PML-N’s political rivals were trying to fan hatred among the public to extract political mileage, though he hoped that they would fail miserably. “People are well aware of our ideology and will vote for us on July 25 despite the propaganda of our opponents,” he said.
He also challenged popular public perception, noting that a large number of spiritual leaders and custodians of different shrines were still supporting PML-N in the next elections.
According to a research conducted by Dr. Adeel Malik, who teaches development economics at Oxford University, there are about 64 shrines in the province of Punjab with direct political connections.
Imran Khan seeks spiritual and religious leaders’ support as election nears
Imran Khan seeks spiritual and religious leaders’ support as election nears
- PTI says it is trying to unite people by using Islam’s message of peace and love
- Analysts say parties should contest elections on basis of their manifestos and performance, not religion
New ‘superfood’ transforms livelihoods in India’s rural east
- Known as fox nut or lotus seed, makhana is rich in protein, dietary fiber, minerals
- Most of the world’s makhana production is in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states
BIHAR: Wading through knee-deep, stagnant water, Mahesh Mukhia plunges his hands into the mud, pulling up handfuls of sludge that he and others toss into a large, partially submerged basket.
After a while, they shake the basket to drain away the water and debris. What remains is makhana — round black seeds that have lately gained popularity as India’s new superfood.
A regional Indian snack, also known as fox nut or lotus seed, makhana is the edible seed of the prickly waterlily. The plant grows in freshwater ponds and wetlands in southern and eastern Asia.
After makhana seeds are handpicked from pond beds, cleaned, and sun-dried, they are roasted at high heat so their hard black shells crack open and release the white, popcorn-like puffed kernels, which are eaten as snacks or used in dishes.
It has long been known for its nutritional value — high in plant-based protein and dietary fiber, the seeds are also rich in minerals and gluten-free — which over the past few years have helped it gain global attention and are transforming farmlands in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states.
“Earlier, people were not researching it but now, after research, makhana’s nutritional values have been highlighted. Now this is a superfood. That’s why demand is growing everywhere,” said Mahesh Mukhia, a farmer in Kapchhahi village in Bihar’s Darbhanga district, whose family has been harvesting the seeds for generations.
“The difference is that my forefathers did farming in a traditional way, but we’ve learnt to do it in a scientific way,” Mukhia told Arab News.
“There is Bhola Paswan Shastri Agricultural College in the neighboring Purnea district. I went there for training. After I started practicing farming the way I learnt, the yield increased by more than 30 percent.”
Makhana farming is highly labor-intensive, starting with the cultivation of water lilies in shallow ponds. The plants require constant monitoring as they are sensitive to water levels and pests.
Harvesting takes place between August and October. Workers pluck the seeds by hand and then dry them under the sun for several days before they can be processed.
The processing and roasting of makhana also require significant effort. The dried seeds are first de-shelled by manually cracking them, followed by multiple rounds of roasting to make them crisp.
Whole families are involved in the production, which has been expanding since 2020, when the state government introduced the Makhana Development Scheme.
Besides training in farming and processing, growers who cultivate fox nut receive $820 per hectare.
“The rate has also gone up. The makhana that we used to sell at 200-300 ($2-$3) rupees per kg is now selling at 1,000 ($12) or 1,500 rupees per kg,” Mukhia said.
“Makhana farmers are now making a profit. Those who are growing makhana are earning well, those who are popping it are also doing well, and those involved in trading are making profits too. We are getting good demand from everywhere. I just received an order for 25 tonnes recently.”
Bihar currently produces over 85 percent of India’s makhana and accounts for most of the world’s production, according to Ministry of Commerce and Industry estimates.
According to reports by the Indian Brand Equity Foundation and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, India accounts for roughly 85 to 90 percent of the world’s production.
Farmland where the crop is grown has increased many times over the past decade and can now be compared to the area covering half of New York City.
More than 600,000 people are involved in the makhana industry in Bihar, according to Niraj Kumar Jha, Darbhanga district’s horticulture officer.
“Earlier, we were cultivating 5,000 hectares in the Kosi and Mithlanchal regions. But now it has expanded to 35,000 hectares, and with many supportive schemes, farmers are increasingly encouraged to grow makhana,” he said.
“We are strengthening our marketing channels. We’ll reach the metro cities as well as world markets ... We can see that makhana is growing very popular, not only in India.”
