Digital Solidarity and the Politics of Pro-Palestine Rhetoric: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Pakistani Political and Religious Elites

Abstract

This study employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the discursive construction of pro-Palestine solidarity by Pakistani political and religious elites across digital platforms during the heightened geopolitical tensions of 2025–2026. Integrating Fairclough’s three-dimensional model with van Dijk’s ideological square framework, this research analyzes 50 texts 25 political and 25 religious statements to interrogate the rhetorical strategies, ideological positioning, and digital amplification mechanisms that characterize Pakistani solidarity discourse. Findings reveal that political actors strategically deploy high-intensity lexemes, container metaphors, and deontic modality to construct moral legitimacy, while religious scholars utilize theological framing rooted in ummah consciousness and sacred geography. Digital platforms function as critical amplifiers, with platform-specific affordances shaping discourse production and consumption patterns. The study contributes to critical discourse studies by extending CDA frameworks to digital political communication in the Global South, demonstrating how transnational solidarity is discursively manufactured even political and religious discourse communities, offering implications for understand and ideologically sustained. The research reveals significant convergences and divergences between the intersection of religion, politics, and digital activism in contemporary Muslim-majority societies.

Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis, Political Discourse, Pro-Palestine Rhetoric, Digital Solidarity, Pakistani Politics, Religious Discourse, Ideological Square.