Pakistan’s support for Hamas remains out in the open, as evident in recent activities.
At the Arab-Islamic Summit in Doha, Qatar, on Sept. 15, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged “the creation of an Arab Islamic task force to adopt effective measures toward Israeli expansionist designs.”
“We reiterate the OIC’s [Organization of Islamic Cooperation] call to suspend Israel’s membership of the United Nations,” he said, adding that member states should actively consider implementing other appropriate measures against Israel.
Pakistan’s support for Hamas is no secret.
On Aug. 5, Basem Naim, a senior Hamas spokesperson, met with Pakistan’s ambassador to Qatar, Muhammad Aamer. They allegedly asserted that the issues of “Palestine” and Kashmir are part of the same battle. The ambassador’s view is in direct alignment with how Islam views history and geography. Pakistan views Kashmir and Gaza (as well as Israel) as Islamic lands, a perspective that has existed since Islam invaded and seized those lands from their indigenous peoples.
Today, a part of Kashmir is occupied by Pakistan, and its demography has been cleansed of its indigenous Hindu people and Islamized. Yet for millennia, Kashmir has been part of India’s great culture and heritage. However, repeated Muslim incursions over the centuries, as well as the ethnic cleansing of the Hindu Kashmiri community from their ancestral homes between 1989 and 1991, at the hands of jihadists supported by Pakistan, have changed Kashmir’s demographic balance by largely Islamizing it.
During India’s partition, Pakistan orchestrated an invasion of Kashmir (in 1947) to force it into accession with Pakistan. The Pakistani military has since continued to occupy a portion of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir (Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, which is referred to as “Azad Kashmir” by Pakistan). The remaining region of Kashmir is part of India (since 2019, it has been officially called the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir). If Pakistan had respected the agreement, which would have allowed the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir to be part of the newly formed Republic of India, all of Kashmir would be part of India today.
According to Muslims, however, any land that was once inhabited and controlled by Muslims remains Muslim territory for eternity. If non-Muslims have since become sovereign in those lands, then they are the occupiers and oppressors. According to this logic, these places must then be freed from non-Muslims, and, therefore, Muslims believe that there is no such thing as Islamic occupation. Islamic doctrine affirms that Muslims are never occupiers, only liberators, because Islam is a liberating religion.
From “Palestine” (so-called) to Kashmir to Andalusia (Islam-occupied Spain) to the former Ottoman-occupied lands in Europe and elsewhere, this is how faithful Muslims see the world.
In line with this ideology, Pakistan continues to openly express its support for Hamas and hosts their leadership with the aim of assisting the terror group in achieving its stated goal of obliterating Israel.
In January 2024, Hamas leader Dr. Naji Zaheer visited the Karachi Press Club in Pakistan. There, he shared with the media false causality statistics and advocated for more anti-Israel protests. “Some 160,000 Palestinians were killed, of whom 12,000 were children in over 100 days,” he falsely claimed. “Another damage caused by this war is the damage to Israel’s economy,” he said, adding that the proxy war against Israel by the Muslims should continue in the form of the protests, as such things “boost morale and were being noticed.”
Meanwhile, Pakistani Grand Mufti Taqi Usmani urged Muslims in January 2024 to support Gaza and Hamas’s mujahideen (jihadists) by donating savings that would otherwise be used for performing Umrah. a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
“In my opinion, people who desire to perform nafli Umrah should instead donate the money to the ongoing jihad in Palestine to earn greater reward,” he said, speaking at the “Hurmat-e-Aqsa” convention in Pakistan.
Referring to the war in Gaza as “Hamas’s jihad against Israel,” Usmani said: “This is not the issue of land occupied by non-Muslims but the importance Bayt al-Maqdis [Al-Aksa] holds for the Muslims. It was the duty of Muslims to free our first ‘qibla’ from the occupation of Jews.”
Usmani conveniently failed to state that the Al-Aqsa mosque was built on top of Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount, where the two Jewish Temples once stood. The first was built by King Solomon and finished in 957 BCE, and the second was built in 516 BCE. The Al-Aksa mosque was built much later, starting in the seventh century C.E., following the Islamic invasion and conquest of Jerusalem.
In April, Usmani called for a complete boycott of Israel and its supporters, declaring “jihad to be an obligatory duty for all Muslim governments” against Israel.
Meanwhile, on Feb. 5, Hamas leader Khalid Al-Qadoumi participated in a conference titled “Kashmir Solidarity and Hamas Operation ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ Conference” in Rawalakot, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The event coincided with Pakistan’s so-called Kashmir Solidarity Day. Qadoumi is Hamas’s representative in Iran.
During the event, the Hamas leader shared the stage with leaders from U.N.-listed terror groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. The speakers vowed to work in “close coordination with Hamas for the cause of jihad in Palestine and Kashmir.” Qadoumi also held a separate meeting with Maulana Fazl ur Rehman, chief of the Islamic fundamentalist Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party.
India Today reported: “The development exposes Pakistan’s role as a sponsor of terrorist activities. Both Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba have carried out multiple attacks on Indian soil, including the 2001 parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the 2019 Pulwama bombing.”
Hamas’s participation in the conference was not an isolated incident, as Hamas representatives have made repeated visits to Pakistan in recent years, especially after the Oct. 7 assault on Israel. In January 2024, for instance, Qaddoumi was invited to address Pakistan’s Parliament.
Pakistan’s official strategy to create an Islamic force against Israel, as well as Hamas’s recent meetings with Pakistani officials and Pakistan-backed terror entities, as well as its participation in conferences in Pakistan, signal an expansion of Hamas’s influence and growing links with Pakistan. It also indicates Pakistan’s active involvement with global terrorist organizations to fuel unrest in the wider region.
