‘Pakistan Can’t Afford Another War’: Why Pashtun Maulana Is Upset With Munir’s Army | Exclusive

Last Updated:October 31, 2025, 15:50 IST

Pakistan’s Maulana Fazlur Rehman said Army should address terrorism, economic collapse, and governance paralysis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rather than fighting borders

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman. (Image: X/naofpakistan)

Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is upset with Pakistan Army, according to top intelligence sources.

Speaking about the current military posturing toward Afghanistan, Rehman said that “Pakistan cannot afford another self-inflicted war", said sources. “Don’t forget Bangladesh 1971 and Kargil 1999 as examples of Pakistan Army’s reckless adventures by Pervez Musharraf and others that cost the country global credibility," he said, according to sources.

The Maulana said the Army should address terrorism, economic collapse, and governance paralysis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rather than fighting borders. He criticized the military’s habit of creating fear in public which is wrong, said sources.

“Islam doesn’t like unjust aggression against a Muslim neighbour," he said, according to sources.

He was indirectly branding the Army’s approach as both un-Islamic and politically suicidal towards Afghanistan

Sources said such a statement would help India build strategic pressure on the Pakistan army. “Indian intelligence sees this as part of a broader Afghan Taliban psychological pushback. Clerical voices like Fazlur Rahman will weaken Pakistan’s internal war narrative," said sources.

Earlier this month, News18 had reported how Rehman was keen to visit India with what he calls a “message of peace". The disclosure was made by Senator Kamran Murtaza, a close aide of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, during a television interview with Pakistani journalist Shaukat Piracha. Murtaza claimed that he personally conveyed Maulana’s message of peace to an Indian diplomat, in the presence of anchor Moeed Pirzada, who also confirmed the exchange.

Top intelligence sources had then told News18 that the move showed growing internal fault lines within Pakistan’s political and military establishment, including rising tensions between Punjabi and Pashtun factions

According to sources, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who hails from Dera Ismail Khan and belongs to the Pashtun community, has positioned himself as the political voice of Pashtun discontent.

Sources had said that Maulana’s peace overture “is not merely symbolic — it’s an indirect signal to both Islamabad and New Delhi that internal discontent in Pakistan’s power corridors is real and growing."

Manoj Gupta

Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18

Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18

News world ‘Pakistan Can’t Afford Another War’: Why Pashtun Maulana Is Upset With Munir’s Army | Exclusive

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