The Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) has been divided in the midst of a power struggle between two influential clerics – Maulana Tahir Ashrafi and Maulana Zahid Mahmood Qasmi – who both claim to be the elected chairperson of the council.
In February, the PUC’s Central Executive Body had removed Ashrafi from the post of the council’s chairperson and appointed the then secretary general Qasmi as the new chief of the party. The basic party membership of Ashrafi and his associated subgroups was also cancelled in a meeting attended by some 500 clerics. Ashraf was reportedly ousted after being accused of taking funds from American and German governments and spying on the students of seminaries.
However Tahir Ashrafi maintained that the PUC central executive body and all provincial and district wings had reposed confidence in him as the chairperson. He added that Qasmi and his supporters’ PUC membership had been cancelled.
PUC is a platform created by the leaders of Deobandi, Barelvi, Shia and Ahle Hadith schools of thought back in 1988 to promote sectarian harmony amid growing sectarian strife in the country. Later on, PUC was also registered as a party with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
In March 2013, the council's chair Alama Tahir Ashrafi reportedly said that suicide attacks are permitted "as long as US forces are present" in Afghanistan.
In October 2014, Tahir Ashrafi, who is also a well known Deobandi cleric and Hafiz, found himself at the centre of widespread criticism and ridicule when he appeared on a news channel and appeared to be slurring his words. On social media, many said it seemed he had been drinking. After that the cleric claimed he had been attacked by supporters of Imran Khan and Sufi cleric Tahir ul-Qadri.