KARACHI: Pakistanis on Friday staged large rallies all across the country to condemn the ongoing bombardment of the besieged Gaza by the Israeli forces.

Members of various political, religious, human rights, trader and civil society organisations of all hues flooded streets in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Multan, Faisalabad, Larkana, Hub, and other towns after the noon prayers. Holding placards and banners, they shouted slogans in favour of the oppressed people of Palestine and against the Israeli atrocities.

In Karachi, the protesters demanded an immediate end to the Israeli attacks on the unarmed and innocent people of Palestine. They took potshots at the rulers of Muslim countries over their failure to collectively stand for the people of Palestine.

The PTI, JUI-F, Majlis Wahdat-i-Musli­meen, Shia Ulema Council, Markazi Jamaat Ahl-i-Hadees, Sunni Rabita Council, trade unions and rights bodies organised major protests in Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur, Jacobabad, Kandhkot-Kashmore, Ghotki, Nawabshah and other towns.

Several political parties demand immediate end to bombing of Gaza, aid for Palestinians

The JUI-F had given a call for Friday to be observed as ‘Youm-i-Tofaanul Aqsa’ to express solidarity with the Palestinians.

While the PTI supporters gathered near the Quaid’s mausoleum to stage a demonstration, the JI collected funds to be donated to the people of Palestine.

In Lahore, the PTI was not allowed to hold a protest outside the press club.

The party condemned the caretaker government for not allowing its workers to even express solidarity with the Palestinians.

Police picked up a protester, carrying

the PTI flag, from outside the Lahore Press Club. However, a PTI spokesperson claimed that a woman protester had also been taken into custody.

In Peshawar, JUI-F emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman while addressing a congregation urged the Muslim countries to unite to support the Palestinians. He regretted that Israeli forces were also killing Palestinian women and children in their ruthless bombing.

The JUI-F workers took out a procession to protest the Israeli atrocities as did the JI’s Peshawar chapter.

The JI workers paraded the GT Road from Hashtnagri to Firdous Chowk, where Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, the party’s chief of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and other leaders addressed them.

A large number of women also attended the gathering. The PTI also held a demonstration near the Peshawar Press Club which was attended by a large number of its supporters.

The Pakistan Markazi Muslim League and traders organised similar protests.

Reports of similar gatherings were also received from other cities and towns of KP.

In Quetta, JUI-F workers gathered at Meezan Chowk, carrying placards and banners inscribed with anti-Israel slogans.

JUI-F’s provincial president Abdul Rehman Rafiqi led the demonstrators who marched on roads and streets of the provincial capital.

Maulana Rafiqi, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed Shrodi, and Maulana Khu­rsheed Ahmed in their speeches also condemned the western countries, particularly the United States, for supporting the Israeli attacks.

They said the leadership of the so-called civilised courtiers has been exposed as they are supporting the Israeli decision to cut food, water, fuel and electricity supplies to the people of Gaza.

The JUI-F leaders urged the government of Pakistan and other Muslim countries to provide all help to the Palestinians.

The Alliance Ahl-i-Sunnat Balochistan, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan, PTI, PML-N and other parties also staged protests to express support for the Palestinian resistance.

Maulana Syed Habib Chishti of Ahl-i-Sunnat Alliance and other leaders urged the Muslim world to extend full cooperation to the Palestinian people.

PTI’s Rahim Kakar and Nawab­zada Sharif Jogezai at a demonstration highlighted the double standards of European human rights defenders in the face of Israeli oppression. They paid tribute to the martyrs of Palestine who sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of independence and in defence of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

People in Khuzdar, Kalat, Sibi, Qila Saifullah, Pishin, Qila Abdullah, Zhob, Noshki, Dera Murad Jamali, Usta Mohammad, Gwadar, Hub, Kharan, Jhal Magsi, and Loralai gathered at prominent places to express solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Imran Ayub in Karachi, Mansoor Malik in Lahore, Manzoor Ali in Peshawar, Saleem Shahid in Quetta, Abdul Wahid Shawani in Khuzdar, Ali Jan Mangi in Nasirabad and Behram Baloch in Gwadar also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2023