Iran wants to expand ties with Tajikistan

[Bengal_Tiger]

Most politicians are liars, most clerics, well....in a forum infested with secularists (not people who are just non-religious but people hostile) and increasingly more so...let me put it diplomatically "many modern Islamic 'scholars' do not live up to the standards they should in terms of being righteous, humility and integrity".

When you have "clerics" who are the heads of political parties, then....especially in that part of the world....then I leave it to you to imagine what will happen.

Anyway JUI (F and S) and JI are in real terms, just mere assets for Pak mil-security nexus to use for their own agenda. Other than that they are not that important, and have not had the same social welfare, intellectual, political impact as other comparative organizations in the Muslim world.

The Shia-Sunni conflict is nowhere as bitter in the entire world as it is in Pakistan, in a country which by its culture and history, so extreme that Sunni groups have murderous relations with each other e.g. Deobandi v Barelwi killings.

Iran will not make any headway in Pakistan, even today Punjab has a huge SSP influence, which goes up to the very top with the governor and his brother, Shebaz and Nawaz Sharif directly/indirectly patronizing them.

[randolph85]

iran can only use its anti western stance as common ground with people who would be otherwise enemies. the country can only push religion in iraq, in farsi speaking countries they can try to push culture. the ones influenced by culture are far less ready to join the iran camp compared to the ones influenced by religion. even then, the shia campaigning can only get them so far.

as u have mentioned, the paki religious parties are just proxies, some covertly and some overtly. unless they can define themselves as something beyond what they are seen as today, they will never be fully respected by the people. i think hamas and hezbollah are good examples of what a sidelined party can accomplish when there is sincerity among the ranks.

[Bengal_Tiger]

iran can only use its anti western stance as common ground with people who would be otherwise enemies. the country can only push religion in iraq, in farsi speaking countries they can try to push culture. the ones influenced by culture are far less ready to join the iran camp compared to the ones influenced by religion. even then, the shia campaigning can only get them so far.

as u have mentioned, the paki religious parties are just proxies, some covertly and some overtly. unless they can define themselves as something beyond what they are seen as today, they will never be fully respected by the people. i think hamas and hezbollah are good examples of what a sidelined party can accomplish when there is sincerity among the ranks.

You summed up everything perfectly!

The only thing I can add is that the ultra-Orthodox Deobandis have issues of not being intellectually dynamic....and not being able to adapt, not in touch.

Btw Iranians can push Shiasm/Farsism with limited "success" but then they have problems with their own Shia (both secular and religious) Persians in Iran, some of whom reject them and reject "Velayat i Faqih".