Pakistanis observe day of solidarity with Palestinians

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis across the country marked Friday as “Palestine Day” to show solidarity with Palestinians after hundreds were killed in Israeli airstrikes over an 11-day period.

It comes after Prime Minister Imran Khan issued directives to hold state-level protests against the Israeli atrocities on Friday. Thousands of people rallied in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Azad Kashmir after Friday prayers. Demonstrators could be seen waving signs that said “Free Palestine”, while a major road connecting the capital Islamabad to the neighbouring city Rawalpindi was blocked.

In Peshawar, hundreds of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers and local leadership turned up at a demonstration staged in front of the Peshawar Press Club.

The demonstrators, including representatives from PTI Youth Wing, Member Provincial Assembly Rabia Basri, former Nazim Peshawar Muhammad Asim Khan, along with hundreds of party workers, called for an immediate end to the occupation of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestinian settlements, including Sheikh Jarrah, and for an end to the forced eviction of local Palestinians.

The marchers were holding placards condemning the genocide of Palestinians, the protesters chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

In northern Sindh, protest rallies and demonstrations were held in Sukkur, Khairpur, Ghotki, Shikarpur, Jaccababad, Kashmore Kandhkot, Noshehroferoze and other districts keeping in view Covid-19 SOPs to convey the message that the entire Pakistani nation stood by their oppressed Palestinian brothers and sisters.

The protest rallies sought to draw the attention of the world community towards grave human rights violations and barbaric attacks against innocent Palestinians by the Israeli forces.

The High Court Bar Association organised a rally at the Sukkur High Court and expressed solidarity with Palestinians. Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) arranged a protest rally outside the Sukkur Press Club against Israeli atrocities in Palestine.

In Faisalabad, the business community expressed solidarity with the Palestinians, demanding the United Nations to ensure immediate implementation on its resolutions regarding Palestine and Kashmir.

In this connection, a rally was also organised by the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) led by FCCI President Hafiz Ihtesham Javed.

In Bahawalpur, the Jamaat-e-Islami took out a rally. The protesters were holding banners inscribed with slogans against Israel. Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, and Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri also attended a rally to show solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Interior minister Sheikh Rashid addressed a Palestine solidarity rally at Lal Haveli and said that he hopes the issue of Kashmir and Palestine will be resolved one day.

PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Maulana Asad, and several other parliamentary leaders also issued statements on the occasion to show solidarity with the people of Palestine as they visited the United Nations office in Islamabad.