-Turkish President lauds Pakistan’s efforts to highlight Palestine issue
From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: In a massive show of solidarity with Palestinians, thousands of Karachiites turned up at the unprecedented ‘Pakistan for Palestine’ demonstration at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Wednesday, demanding an immediate ceasefire from Israel and an end to the bombing of Gaza.
The demonstrators, including representatives of the the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ), Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), National Trade Union Federation (NTBA), Home-Based Women Workers Association and the Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) along with thousands of citizens, called for an immediate end to the occupation and demolition of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestinian settlements, including Sheikh Jarrah, and for an end to the forced eviction of local Palestinians. The idea for the protest started from social media and ended up at the KPC, with a large number of citizens, mostly young college students, from across a cross-section of society condemning Israeli onslaught of violence.
Holding placards condemning the genocide of Palestinians, the protesters chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The crowd was unprecedented and the numbers kept going up, as a result of which the areas around Zainab Market, Saddar and Shaheen Complex saw gridlocks for hours.
Neha Mohammad and her husband Abdul Kaleem Shiekh, a young Karachi couple, were accompanied by their children and family members at the protest. Talking to media, Mohammad said she saw the call for protest on social media. Commenting on the situation in Palestine and the killing of innocent children, she said, “We were feeling helpless sitting at home. This is the least we can do to show support to the Palestinians.”
“We want an end to the occupation. We want the world to see and support innocent Palestinians,” said Murtaza, an engineering student. “What is happening in Palestine is inhumane. This must be called out,” said Nafees, a student of Karachi University. “They can block social media posts but we need to continue to raise our voice against these atrocities,” said Sana Khan.
“The turnout was a lot more than we expected. Pakistan and Karachiites care about this humanitarian disaster,” said Filzah Asif, an organiser of the event.
A student at the Denning Law School, she said, “We saw that there were no protests in Karachi on the Palestine issue. Me and Namra Masood (another organiser) decided to use Instagram and that’s how @pakistanforpalestine was created.
“It’s a student and female-led initiative to raise awareness about the genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and all the terrorism being committed by Israel,” said Asif. “We are very grateful and thankful to the citizens of Karachi for showing up,” she added.
“We call on the government of Pakistan and Pakistani citizens to join us in the campaign to spread awareness on the streets, media and social media about the atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinians in the Nakba from 1948 to date. We declare our full solidarity and support with the Palestinian resistance. We strongly condemn the Israeli bombing of the offices of independent media outlets,” a demand by the demonstrators read.
The protestors called for a “progressive and prosperous Palestine”.
“This is such a big show of solidarity,” said KUJ General Secretary and the Karachi bureau chief of Geo News Faheem Siddiqui. “In my professional career spanning over two decades, I have never seen such a massive non-political crowd at the KPC,” he said, while commending the spirit of Karachiites to stand up for Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday lauded Pakistan’s stance and efforts to highlight the plight of oppressed Palestinians at international level. The Turkish president expressed these views as Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called on him here at the Presidential Palace.
Foreign Minister Qureshi and his counterparts from Turkey, Palestine and other countries, will be traveling to New York to participate in-person in a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Palestine issue. During the meeting, issues related to bilateral relations and the situation in Palestine were discussed.
President Erdogan said Turkey would host the 7th meeting of Pak-Turk High Level Strategic Cooperation Council to discuss a cooperation in diverse fields. FM Qureshi conveyed to President Erdogan a special message of goodwill from President Dr. Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He said the similarity in stance of the leadership of Pakistan and Turkey had strengthened bilateral relations between the two countries. The foreign minister thanked the Turkish president for his strong and unwavering support to Pakistan’s stance on the Kashmir issue.
