‘Claim of peace has proven to be false’: Pakistanis ask govt to review Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize nomination, says report

Many Pakistani politicians and public figures, upset about US’ airstrikes on Iran, have written to the government to rescind the nomination Islamabad filed, recommending US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize 2026. They questioned Trump’s support of the Israeli attacks and asked how this could be a sign of peace.

Last week as Pakistan Field Marshal Asim Munir was hosted by Trump at the White House, the Pakistani government announced that it would nominate the President for the prestigious award due to his recent peacemaking efforts between India and Pakistan. This decision came even as India said that there was no mediation from the US, and the ceasefire talks happened only between New Delhi and Islamabad. 

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar signed the recommendation letter which was sent to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Norway. Soon after, the US conducted airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, raising questions in Pakistan about the legitimacy of the move. On the other hand, Shahbaz Sharif's government has also condemned the US' strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

According to a report in The Dawn, veteran politician Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who heads the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) said, “President Trump’s claim of peace has proven to be false; the proposal for the Nobel Prize should be withdrawn.” He said that Munir and Trump’s meeting “pleased Pakistani rulers so much” that they ended up recommending a nomination for Trump. 

"Trump has supported the Israeli attacks on Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Iran. How can this be a sign of peace? With the blood of Afghans and Palestinians on America’s hands, how can he claim to be a proponent of peace?” he asked. 

Former senator Mushahid Hussain wrote on X, “Since Trump is no longer a potential peacemaker, but a leader who has willfully unleashed an illegal war, Pakistan government must now review, rescind and revoke his Nobel nomination!” Hussain said Trump has been trapped by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli war lobby, pushing him to commit the “biggest blunder of his presidency”. “Trump will now end up presiding over the decline of America!” he said.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Ali Muhammad Khan said Trump “engaged in deception and betrayed his own promise not to start new wars”. PTI also condemned the “unprovoked” US strikes and voiced “total support” for Iran’s sovereignty. 

Trump, during his campaigning days, had reiterated that none of the wars would have taken place had he been the President. He criticised Biden for allowing the Ukraine and Gaza wars.

Raoof Hasan, head of PTI’s political think-tank said that the government’s decision has caused unmitigated shame and embarrassment to the Pakistani people. “That’s why it is said that legitimacy can neither be bought nor gifted,” said Hasan, in a sharp comment on the Shahbaz Sharif-government.

“The sycophancy adopted by the Pakistani ruling elite in nominating President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize is not part of normative conduct in international diplomacy. It was most embarrassing to announce the nomination hours before Trump ordered to bomb Iranian nuclear sites,” said former senator Afrasiab Khattak. 

Jamaat-i-Islami chief Naeemur Rehman has said the decision undermined Pakistan’s “national dignity and grace”, while Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US Maleeha Lodhi said the decision to nominate Trump was “unfortunate”. 

“Will Pakistan withdraw its nomination for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize?” asked author and activist Fatima Bhutto. 

Trump had earlier said that he should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize some 4-5 times by now. "They should give me the Nobel Prize for Rwanda and if you look, the Congo, or you could say Serbia, Kosovo, you could say a lot of them. The big one is India and Pakistan. I should have gotten it four or five times…They won't give me a Nobel Peace Prize because they only give it to liberals,” he told reporters.