ISLAMABAD:
As the Middle East veers closer to all-out war, Pakistani politicians and notable figures on Sunday lambasted the government’s decision to nominate US President Donald Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize – just hours after Washington officially entered the Israel-Iran conflict with a thunderous overnight assault.
The dramatic escalation came as Trump, in a televised statement, declared that American forces had “obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear facilities in a swift military campaign dubbed ‘Midnight Hammer’.
The move jolted an already volatile region and drew sharp condemnation from voices at home and abroad.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman called on the government to immediately withdraw its recommendation for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump, asserting that while Pakistan desired friendship with the United States, it did not accept slavery.
Addressing the JUI Punjab General Council meeting in Murree, the JUI-F chief said: “We want friendship with the US, but not at the cost of our sovereignty.”
Fazlur Rehman reiterated his demand for the government to rescind its Nobel Peace Prize recommendation for Trump, accusing him of having “blood of Palestinians, Iraqis and Afghans on his hands”.
He condemned the US attack on Iran, calling it a blatant violation of both national and international laws.
“If we do not stand with Iran, should we side with Israel instead?” he asked rhetorically. “We fully support Iran.”
Former senator Mushahid Hussain minced no words. In a series of posts on X, he urged Islamabad to reverse its course.
“Since Trump is no longer a potential peacemaker, but a leader who has willfully unleashed an illegal war, [the] Pakistan government must now review, rescind and revoke his Nobel nomination!”
He also noted the deepening entanglement between Washington and Tel Aviv.
“Trump had been ‘trapped by Netanyahu and Israeli war lobby, committing [the] biggest blunder of his presidency’,” Hussain wrote. “Trump will now end up presiding over [the] decline of America!”
PTI lawmaker Ali Muhammad Khan also joined the chorus.
“RECONSIDER,” he wrote in all caps, calling attention to the “US attack on Iran and continuous US support of Israeli killings in Gaza”.
Former senator Afrasiab Khattak also weighed in.
“The sycophancy adopted by [the] Pakistani ruling elite in nominating President Trump for Nobel Peace Prize is not part of normative conduct in international diplomacy,” he wrote, lambasting what he described as a spineless foreign policy move.
Author and activist Fatima Bhutto posed a question: “Will Pakistan withdraw its nomination for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize?”
Similarly, renowned Islamic scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani strongly condemned the US attack on Iran’s nuclear installations, calling the act a violation of previous American commitments and a deeply alarming escalation.
In a post shared on the social media platform X Usmani denounced the US strike on Iranian nuclear sites, describing it as “highly condemnable” and a clear breach of past promises made by American leadership.
