The Difa-e-Pakistan Council ( ur, دفاعِ پاکستان کونسل, lit. ''Defence of Pakistan Council'', abbreviated as DPC) is an umbrella coalition of more than 40 Pakistani Political and Religious parties that advocate conservative policies such as closing NATOsupply routes to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
In 2012, the Chief of The Defence of Pakistan Council was
Sami-ul-Haq
Sami ul Haq ( ur, , ''Samī'u’l-Ḥaq''; 18 December 1937 – 2 November 2018) was a Pakistani religious scholar and senator. He was known as the ''Father of Taliban'' for the role his seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania played in the graduation ...
.
The council is an alliance of right-wing groups, some of which are banned terrorist outfits. It is chaired by
Sami-ul-Haq
Sami ul Haq ( ur, , ''Samī'u’l-Ḥaq''; 18 December 1937 – 2 November 2018) was a Pakistani religious scholar and senator. He was known as the ''Father of Taliban'' for the role his seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania played in the graduation ...
and includes leaders of Jamatud Dawa (JuD) and the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), operating under the name of Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat (ASWJ).
Fazlur Rehman Khalil
Fazal ur Rehman Khalil ( ur, ) is a founder of ''Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM)'' and current leader of '' Ansar-ul-Umma'', which is accused of being a front organization of the banned HuM. He also runs the ''Jamia Khalid Bin Walid'', a madrasa or ...
, a founder of
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen- al-Islami ( ur, ; HUM) is a Pakistan-based Islamic jihad group operating primarily in Kashmir.Ansar-ul Umma, is another leading cleric in the council. According to the council's website, 36 organizations or people are part of the DPC (although only 36 are listed due to misnumbering):
#
JUI-S
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (S) ( ur, جمیعت علماءِ اسلام (س)) commonly known as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (S) is a political party in Pakistan. It was established in 1980, as a breakway faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) founded ...
(
Sami-ul-Haq
Sami ul Haq ( ur, , ''Samī'u’l-Ḥaq''; 18 December 1937 – 2 November 2018) was a Pakistani religious scholar and senator. He was known as the ''Father of Taliban'' for the role his seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania played in the graduation ...
Siraj-ul-Haq
Siraj ul Haq ( ur, سراج الحق; born 5 September 1962) is a Pakistani politician who was elected as the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, a religious political party in Pakistan which seeks to establish an Islamic legal system. He also served as ...
) (Secratry General)
# Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ( Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi) (Joint Secraitery)
# JUP (Dr. Sahibzada Abdul Khayr Zubair, Shah Ovais Noorani)
# JUI-N (Asmatullah, A. Qadir)
# Jamiat Mashaikh Ahle Sunnah
# Muslim Conference AJK (Sardar Atiq Ahmed)
# Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam (Abdul Latif Khalid Cheema)
# Mohsinan-e-Pakistan (Abdullah Gul, representative of A. Q. Khan)
# Pakistan Water Movement (Nasr)
# Tehreek e Ittehad (former Gen.
Hamid Gul
Lieutenant General Hamid Gul ( ur, ; 20 November 1936 – 15 August 2015) was a three-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army and defence analyst. Gul was notable for serving as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligenc ...
)
# Muslim League Zia ( Ijaaz ul Haque)
# Awami Muslim League ( Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed)
# Tehreek-e-Hurmat Rasool (Amir Hamza)
# Secretary Gen DPC (Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh)
# Ansar ul Ummah (Fazal-ur-Rehman Khalil)
# AMTKN (Ismail Shujabadi)
# Pakistan Ulema Council ( Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi)
# Tehreek-e-Azaadi Kashmir (Saifullah Mansoor)
# Muslim League-Sher-e-Bangal (Dr. Sualeh Zahoor)
# AMTKN-International (M. Ilyas Chinoti)
# Sunni Ulema Council (M. Ashraf Tahir)
# Christian Community (Yusuf)
# Sikh Community (Sardar Shaam)
# Hindu Community Lahore (Manohar Chand)
# Hindu Community Khi (Ramesh Laal)
# Jamiat Ittehad ul Ulema – Pakistan
# Jamat Ahle-Hadith Pakistan ( Hafiz Abdul Ghaffar Ropri)
# Jamiat Ahle-Hadith (former Gen. Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer)
# Mutahida Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith (Naeem Badshah)
# Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam (Syed Muhammad Kafeel Bukhari)
# Jamiat Ashat Tauheed sunnah (Tayyab Tahiri)
Activities
The umbrella organization was formed in November 2011 in response to the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers who were killed by American gunships and warplanes along the Afghan border. Pakistan closed NATO supply routes to Afghanistan after the strikes but reopened the routes in July 2012 when
U.S. Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's C ...
Hillary Clinton apologized. Thousands of supporters rallied in Islamabad on July 9, 2012 in protest of the government's decision to reopen the lines. Several other organizations such as Tanzeem e Islami send delegates for debate or speech to the Difa e Pakistan Council Forums upon request as non-member guest speakers or participants in debate, or in some cases as observers.