ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman called for stron­ger ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh on Sunday, telling a large religious gathering that a shared “unity of faith was a stronger bond between the two nations that cannot be abolished”.

The JUI-F chief was addressing the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat conference at Suhrawardy Ground in Dhaka. “The people of Bangladesh possessed a strong and dynamic spirit of activism, but religious movements stood for continuity and stability at the ideology not violence,” he said.

Maulana Fazl emphasised that the delegation from Pakistan had not come merely to attend the event but to convey a message of goodwill from the Pakistani people to their Bangladeshi brethren. Focusing on the conference’s central theme of the finality of prophethood, Maulana Fazl underscored a core shared belief.

“We the Muslims of Pakistan and Bangladesh are part of a single Ummah,” he said, adding that scholars across the subcontinent are united in the belief that anyone claiming prophethood after Prophet Muhammad is outside the fold of Islam.

The JUI-F chief also expressed hope that the conference would serve as a catalyst for strengthening relations and cooperation across various sectors.

He pledged that “if Bangladesh took one step forward, Pakistan would take two”, and asserted that “mutual goodwill and affection would continue to grow stronger between the two countries”.

Participants were also seen carrying Palestinian flags during the event.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2025