Jamaat-e-Islami set to stage Palestine march today

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) is set to hold its ‘Palestine march’ today in solidarity with the people of the holy land and to oppose Israeli aggression.

JI central chief Sirajul Haq will lead the march that will be held on Sharea Faisal.

JI Karachi chief Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, while visiting the central camp set up for the protest, said that with its 30 million population, Karachi is the largest city in the Islamic world and a city that loves Islam.

“The residents of Karachi will prove by participating in it in a large number that it will be the largest march of any city in the world,” he said.

The main objective of the rally was to show solidarity with the Palestinians and to increase pressure on the government for a more active role in mobilising the Muslim bloc for the holy land, he said, adding that the Muslims across the world would never let the dream of “Greater Israel” come true.

He also appealed to the masses to take to the streets today in a show of solidarity with their Palestinian brothers and sisters.

Rehman said that the JI had already set up a Palestine Fund and asked the masses to contribute to it so as to provide some relief to their brothers in need.

The freedom of the holy land was a matter of faith as well as life and death for each and every Muslim, he said, adding that the Ummah would not compromise on the liberation of the holy land.

Despite the ceasefire by Israel, unarmed Palestinians were oppressed, he said. “A representative gathering of the Islamic world needs to be convened and Pakistan needs to play a leading role in it,” he said. “Palestine is not a political issue, nor is it associated with a party or group,” he said. “It is a matter of concern for the entire Muslim world, and every member of the Ummah should express his concern over the issue.”

Criticising the leadership in the Muslim world, he said that the entire Muslim bloc needed to show unity against Israel and solidarity with Palestine.

The JI leader said that on the state level, the government needed to go beyond solidarity messages and condemnations. He also suggested that a meeting of army chiefs from all over the world needed to be convened.

He said that Israel had attacked media houses in Gaza after announcing the attack in a naked show of aggression, but the Western world was criminally trying to downplay the move and hushing the matter under the carpet.

The JI Karachi chief called on Arts Council Karachi President Ahmed Shah and invited him and the council to participate in the march.

Shah expressed unconditional and massive support for the march and said that it was an obligation for the entire Ummah to express solidarity with the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, JI Karachi leader Abdul Razzaq Khan met several bodies of the traders’ community and invited them to the march. The trader’s community overwhelmingly supported the march and assured Khan of their full cooperation.

The JI’s minority wing also announced it would participate in the march along with their respective communities, saying that they shared the concerns of the Pakistani nation over Palestine.