Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri () is a Pakistani politician and member of the

Senate of Pakistan The Senate of Pakistan, Constitution of Pakistan, constitutionally the House of the Federation, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Pakistan. As of 2023, It has a maximum membership of 96, of which 92 are elected by the Member of th ...

from

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (, ) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the Demographics of Pakistan, most populous province in Pakistan and the List of first-level administrative divisions by popu ...

. He is a

Shia Muslim Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

cleric and the head of the MWM.

Political career

Jafri is a Shia Muslim cleric who advocates for good Shia-Sunni relations. He became involved in religious politics and has promoted

Moderate Islam Moderate Muslim and Moderate Islam are terms that are used within religious and political discourse to describe the obverse of Islamic extremism and imply that supporting Islamic terrorism is the characteristic of extremist groups within Islam, a ...

Islamic Socialism Islamic socialism is a political philosophy that incorporates elements of Islam into a system of socialism. As a term, it was coined by various left-wing Muslim leaders to describe a more spiritual form of socialism. Islamic socialists believe ...

, and

Islamic Democracy There exist a number of perspectives on the relationship between the religion of Islam and democracy (the form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state and democracy) among Islamic political th ...

, rather than

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

or aspects of

Islamic fundamentalism Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a revivalist and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. The term has been used interchangeably with similar terms such as Islamism, Islamic revivalism, Qut ...

. Through his leadership of the

Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM; , ) is a Pakistani Shia Islam, Shi'a Islamic political organization. Its headquarters are in Islamabad. MWM Pakistan works to establish an Islamic democratic welfare state, particularly emphasising Shia Islam, Shi' ...

(MWM), he has advocated for the rights of Shias in Pakistan. Jafri has also been a staunch critic of the

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan The Pakistani Taliban, officially the Tehreek-i-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, its current ...

(TTP), a major terrorist group, and has strongly opposed 'secret government talks' or peace talks with the TTP. As leader of the MWM, he established positive relations with parties following other sects of Islam, particularly in 2014 when he formed a close alliance with the

Sunni Ittehad Council The Sunni Ittehad Council (''Ittehad'' in Urdu for "unity", from ''al-Ittihad'' in Arabic meaning "united" or "jointly") is a political alliance of Islamic political and Barelvi religious parties in Pakistan which represents followers of the sch ...

(SIC), a

Barelvi The Barelvi movement, also known as Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah (People of the Prophet's Way and the Community) is a Sunni revivalist movement that generally adheres to the Hanafi school, Hanafi and Shafi'i school, Shafi'i schools of jurisprudenc ...

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

organization. He also supported the emerging

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a political party in Pakistan established in 1996 by cricketer and politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The party is led by Gohar Ali Khan since late 2023. ...

(PTI) party led by Imran Khan in the 2013 elections, where he and Khan formed an alliance to promote peace and justice. Jafri’s most prominent move in Pakistani politics came during the 2022-2023 political unrest when he sided with

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Since the early 2010s, he has actively protested against corruption and disunity among Pakistanis and Muslims, consistently supporting Imran Khan’s policies against

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

and

rigging Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support and control a sailing ship or sail boat's masts and sails. ''Standing rigging'' is the fixed rigging that supports masts including shrouds and stays. ''Running rigg ...

. In the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, he formed an alliance with PTI. He also noted that the selection of the Sunni Ittehad Council to represent PTI politicians rather than the MWM was not an issue, and that he, the MWM, the SIC, and the PTI were united in a bloc against corruption. Jafri was elected unopposed from Punjab province during the

2024 Pakistani Senate election Elections for the Senate of Pakistan were held on 2 April 2024. Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were postponed by the ECP. 52 out of 100 incumbent Senators including 4 Federally Administered Tribal Areas, FATA senators retired after compl ...

as a MWM candidate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jafri, Raja Nasir Abbas Living people Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen politicians Politicians from Punjab, Pakistan Year of birth missing (living people) Pakistani senators 2024–2030 Pakistani Shia clerics Pakistani Shia Muslims