LAHORE, Aug 11: Condemning the massacres in Lebanon by the Israel war-machine, the South Asians for Human Rights has called upon the Afro-Asian nationals to shed their pathetic indifference to the crisis in the Middle East and play their due role in securing the supremacy of the universal human rights.

Demanding an immediate cessation of Israeli aggression against Lebanon and concerted efforts by the United Nations for resolution of the Middle East conflict through peaceful negotiations, SAHR co-chairperson Asma Jehangir said in a statement issued here on Friday wanton killing of civilians, especially children of tender age, could not be justified as legitimate response to any provocation or under any law or combat known to the civilised world.

She said the people of South Asia were concerned at the carnage because apart from their right to protest against the violation of human rights in any part of the globe, they were directly affected by the hardships suffered by the fellow human beings in the zone of death and destruction. Besides, they could not be unmindful of growing hostilities in their neighbourhood.

They were also appalled at the encouragement Israel had received to indulge in crimes against humanity from political and material support extended to it by its traditional patrons and at the failure of the UN to check attacks on its basic assumptions and objectives.

SAHR too was concerned at the dangerous signals the Lebanese conflict was sending to potential warmongers in different parts of the world, including South Asia, Asma said. cornea patients: Lahore Businessmen Association for Rehabilitation of Disabled (LABARD) president Muhammad Pervaiz Malik, MNA, has urged philanthropists to come forward and join hands with LABARD for offering free of cost cornea transplant facility to the poor blind.