KARACHI, Oct 19: Speakers at a conference urged all Muslims to unite ignoring petty sectarian differences and strive together for the freedom of Palestine and other occupied Muslim lands.

The “International Palestine and Lebanon Conference” was organised at the Karachi Press Club by the Imamia Students Organisation, Karachi division, in connection with the Al-Quds Freedom Week on Thursday.

Raza Rabbani, opposition leader in Senate, said in an era when all anti-Islam elements were united at one platform, Muslims rulers instead of thinking to join hands to get strengthen were looking towards America to sustain their power.

He said the so-called war on terror, led by the US, was just to fulfil its evil designs and desires. He said that American had no moral values and they did not hesitate labelling their friends of past as foes, if it suited to their interests.

“As long as Israel was bombing the innocent people of Lebanon, the US and the West were saying that there would be no ceasefire, but as soon as killing of Jewish troops started by Hizbollah fighters they suddenly changed their course and insisted on an immediate ceasefire,” he observed.

He was of opinion that the United Nations had lost its credibility as it failed to enforce its own resolutions. He roundly criticised dual standards of Western countries for their silence when Israel bombed civilian population of Lebanon with cluster bombs and chemical weapons.

He asked for combating evil intentions of the US and its lackeys in Pakistan “as they have put economic and political sovereignty of the country on stake”.

Imdad Chandio, Central Vice-President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz noted that belief and principles could not be defeated as witnessed in case of Lebanon where Israeli army, one the world’s highly skilled and equipped armies, was overthrown by a small group only on the basis of their belief and passion.

Allama Haider Abbas, a religious scholar, said that Islam expected all Muslims to stand with the oppressed against oppressors.

He said, “Our religion did not allow us to support usurpers and Israel was a usurper state, as it had not only occupied the land of Palestinian Muslims illegally, but also displaced them from their motherland.”

To acquire durable peace in the Middle East, he said that Palestinians must be given their basic right to return to their land with sovereignty and freedom. ISO President Yafis Naveed Hashmi also spoke on the occasion.—PPI