- Large number of women, children and religious minorities also attend rallies
- Participants in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi hold placards bearing support messages for innocent civilians in Gaza
KARACHI/LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Tens of thousands packed a main thoroughfare in the southern port city of Karachi on Sunday as they took out a rally in solidarity with Palestinians and to denounce Israeli bombardment on Gaza.
The march was led by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), one of the country’s mainstream religiopolitical party, with the backing of several other political parties and trade associations.
Sporting arm and headbands engraved with slogans “Labbaik ya Gaza” (Gaza we are here), and “Labbaik ya Aqsa” (Aqsa we are here), the protesters rallied at Shahrah-e-Faisal. A large number of women and children, as well as religious minorities, were part of the march, with organizers claiming over 100,000 people participated.
پاکستان کے سب سے بڑے شہر کراچی میں لاکھوں لوگوں کا اہل غزہ کے ساتھ اظہار یکجہتی، فلسطین کی آزادی اور غزہ پر حملوں کی بندش کا مطالبہ، مظاہرے کا اہتمام جماعت اسلامی نے کیا تھا#GazaUnderAtack #Gazagenocide #غزة_الآن #غزة_تزحف_الى_القدس pic.twitter.com/QizCGSHHn2
— ترکیہ اردو (@TurkiyeUrdu_) October 15, 2023
The protesters chanted “down with Israel” in unison, as JI chief Sirajul Haq, along with other politicians, formed a human chain.
Addressing the rally, Haq expressed concern over growing number of casualties in Gaza, accusing Tel Aviv of deliberately targeting civilians.
لبیک یا اقصی لبیک یا غزہ
کراچی بول اٹھا#KarachiStands4FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/XY7Ty8Uvi0— Jamaat e Islami Pakistan (@JIPOfficial) October 15, 2023
“Palestine is a part of our faith. We will never leave you (Palestinians) alone,” he said, adding that Palestinians will never surrender to subjugation.
Criticizing the “double standards” of the West, he said, the US and Europe had different benchmarks for Palestine and Ukraine.
“You support Ukrainians in their war against occupation, but justify the Israeli subjugation of Palestine,” he said.
JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman dubbed Israel as a “terrorist state,” accusing the US and some European countries of being complicit in “Israeli war crimes.”
The conflict began last Saturday when Palestinian group Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel – a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea, and air.
Hamas said the surprise attack was in retaliation for the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ growing violence against Palestinians.
The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s response has extended into cutting water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening living conditions in an area that has endured a crippling siege since 2007, as well as ordering more than 1 million Gazans in the northern strip to evacuate to the southern strip.
Earlier, Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi Ameer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman led a rally, with participants holding placards bearing messages of support for the Palestinian people.
The demonstrators marched from Baloch Colony to Nursery bus stop on foot under the leadership of the JI leader. Participants in the rally fervently expressed their anger through chants denouncing Israel’s aggression.
Rawalpindi
Similarly, a rally was also held in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh, drawing scores of participants who vehemently condemned the Israeli aggression against innocent unarmed civilians in Palestine.
During his address, JI Punjab Amir Dr Tariq Saleem commended Hamas’ “surprise attack” on Israel, noting that this move had unsettled Tel Aviv for the first time. He cautioned the United States against taking sides in the conflict and urged them to refrain from supporting Netanyahu’s administration.
Dr Saleem suggested that should the US become further embroiled in the escalating situation, it could face similar consequences as it did in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Royal Riders Pakistan organised a motorbike rally to express solidarity with the Palestinian people, with children joining their parents in the event.
‘Muslim rulers urged to take practical actions for freedom of Palestine’
In Lahore, under the banner of the Muslim Youth League, a Labbaik Ya Aqsa rally was organized from Istanbul Chowk to the Punjab Assembly against Israeli atrocities. Thousands of people from various walks of life participated in this rally, showing a tremendous emotional environment. Concerned citizens chanted slogans in favor of the Palestinian cause and against Israeli aggression throughout the city. In Labbaik Ya Aqsa rally, participants from various youth organizations, students, young people, traders, and members of various professions held books and banners with inscriptions in support of Palestine and unity with the Palestinians. During the speeches of the leaders, the participants expressed their passion for the love of Palestinian brothers.
In the Labbaik Ya Aqsa rally, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, President Markzi Muslim League Lahore, Engineer Adil Khaliq, Sheikh Adil Amir, Malik Ijaz, Haris Dar, Jabran Butt, Hafiz Abdul Rahman, Abdul Rahman Badar, Mursheed Arsalan Naveed, Abdul Ghaffar Dogar, Nasser Mahmood Ghuman, and other leaders addressed the gathering. On this occasion, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar said in his speech that Muslim rulers should take practical actions for the freedom of Palestine instead of language unity. The blood of the Palestinians has turned red, but I am saddened by the Pakistani youth who accept Israel as a state.
TJP takes out solidarity rally
The Tehreek Jawanan Pakistan (TJP) on Sunday held a ‘Martyrs of Palestine and Pakistan Rally’ to show solidarity with Palestinian brothers and sisters here in the metropolis.
The rally commenced from Jinnah Terminal (airport), which passed through Shahra-e-Faisal Drig Station, Gulshan e Iqbal, Luck One and Aisha Manzil and culminated at Karsaz.
TJP Chairman Abdullah Gul addressing the occasion, said that the people of Palestine and IIOJK stood on the right path. He said that human rights were being violated by Israel in Palestine.
He said that the oppressed Palestinians were being brutally martyred by Israeli forces.
Gul said that Israel was targeting women and children. He said that Palestine would emerge victorious in spite of the brutal attacks of Israel.
Israel readies troops for Gaza invasion
Meanwhile, Israel pressed on Sunday with preparations for a ground offensive in Gaza, after giving Palestinians little time to flee northern areas it has vowed to target in response to the deadliest attack in its history.
Hamas fighters killed over 1,300 people in a surprise attack that Israel has compared to 9/11 in the United States. Israel has retaliated with a massive bombing campaign in Gaza leaving over 2,200 dead.
Israel has warned around 1.1 million Gazans living in the north of the Palestinian territory to flee to the south ahead of a ground incursion which the military has indicated will focus on Gaza City, the base of the leadership of the Hamas group.
The military said Gaza City residents must not delay their departure but a spokesperson said late Saturday they still had time to leave and that the ground offensive would not start on Sunday.
Since Friday thousands of Gazans, who cannot leave the enclave as it is blockaded by both Israel and Egypt, have packed what belongings they can into bags and suitcases, to trudge through the rubble-strewn streets.
Shehbaz demands halt to Israeli bombardment on Palestinians
Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League (N) President Shehbaz Sharif while condemning Israeli airstrikes on Palestinian civilians, including innocent children on Sunday, called for an immediate cessation of the bombardment.
Sharif expressed profound grief and sorrow over the tragic martyrdom of over 2,000 Palestinian people including the children. In a statement, Shehbaz Sharif declared that the Zionist state had crossed all boundaries of international law and humanity with its actions in Palestine.
He emphasized that the international community, particularly the United Nations Security Council, must ensure the protection and preservation of the inalienable legal rights of Palestinians to live free from harm. Failure to do so, he warned, could lead the world down a path of destruction.
Shehbaz Sharif also highlighted the seven decades of brutal occupation that the Palestinian people have endured, enduring unspeakable atrocities. He stressed that if the Security Council had acted upon its resolutions, the current dire situation could have been averted.
Accusing the Israeli state of committing genocide against the Palestinians for decades, Sharif urged the UN Security Council to implement its resolutions, thereby ending the bloodshed of innocent civilians.
He vehemently criticized the evacuation of hospitals and the targeting of journalists, equating these acts to permitting massacres.
He called on the global community to intervene and halt the ongoing tragedy. PML-N President asserted that the world should not remain passive in the face of such cruelty and brutality. He called for practical measures to halt the massacre of innocent people and to provide immediate humanitarian aid.
Maryam seeks world community’s help to halt massacre of Palestinians
Meanwhile, PML-N Senior Vice President and Chief Organizer Maryam Nawaz Sharif emphasized the urgent need for the international community to intervene and halt the massacre of Palestinians.
In a statement on Sunday, she underlined the collective responsibility of justice-seeking and humanitarian individuals worldwide to put an end to the bloodshed of innocent civilians.
The barbaric bombing of unarmed and besieged Palestinians is a clear violation of international law, constituting a war crime, she hinted, asserting that attacks on hospitals, humanitarian caravans, and civilian populations were far from the actions of brave and law-abiding nations.
