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of religious clerics and custodians of different shrines on Saturday, demanding that a committee report on a now-withdrawn controversial amendment to the Khatam-e-Nabuwat (finality of prophethood) oath be made public.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
The UN aid coordination agency cuts its funding appeal after Western support plunges
- The UN aid coordinator sought $47 billion for this year and aimed to help 190 million people worldwide. Because of the lower support, it and humanitarian partners reached 25 million fewer people this year than in 2024
GENEVA: The UN’s humanitarian aid coordination office is downsizing its appeal for annual funding in 2026 after support this year, mostly from Westerngovernments, plunged to the lowest level in a decade.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Monday it was seeking $33 billion to help some 135 million people cope with fallout from wars, climate disasters, earthquakes, epidemics and food shortages. This year, it took in $15 billion, the lowest level in a decade.
The office says next year it wants more than $4.1 billion to reach 3 million people in Palestinian areas, another $2.9 billion for Sudan — home to the world’s largest displacement crisis — and $2.8 billion for a regional plan around Syria.
“In 2025, hunger surged. Food budgets were slashed — even as famines hit parts of Sudan and Gaza. Health systems broke apart,” said OCHA chief Tom Fletcher. “Disease outbreaks spiked. Millions went without essential food, health care and protection. Programs to protect women and girls were slashed, hundreds of aid organizations shut.”
The UN aid coordinator sought $47 billion for this year and aimed to help 190 million people worldwide. Because of the lower support, it and humanitarian partners reached 25 million fewer people this year than in 2024.
The donor fatigue comes as many wealthy European countries face security threats from an increasingly assertive Russia on their eastern flank and have experienced lackluster economic growth in recent years, putting new strains on government budgets and the consumers who pay taxes to sustain them.
“I know budgets are tight right now. Families everywhere are under strain,” Fletcher said. “But the world spent $2.7 trillion on defense last year – on guns and arms. And I’m asking for just over 1 percent of that.”
The UN system this year has slashed thousands of jobs, notably at its migration and refugee agencies, and Secretary-General António Guterres’ office has launched a review of UN operations — which may or may not produce firm results.
Fletcher, who answers to Guterres, has called for “radical transformation” of aid by reducing bureaucracy, boosting efficiency and giving more power to local groups. Fletcher cited “very practical, constructive conversations” almost daily with the Trump administration.
“Do I want to shame the world into responding? Absolutely,” Fletcher said. “But I also want to channel this sense of determination and anger that we have as humanitarians, that we will carry on delivering with what we get.”
