Tens of thousands mobilized in the southern port city of Karachi, Pakistan on October 15 in solidarity with Palestine. While denouncing the Israeli bombardment on Gaza that has killed close to 3,000 people including 1,030 children, the protesters carried the banners of “Free Palestine” and expressed their unwavering solidarity.
The demonstration was supported by different trade associations including Sindh Farmers Front, Pakistan Steel Labor Organization, and National Labor Federation, along with other religious groups and political. The protesters chanted slogans such as “Labbaik ya Gaza, Labaik ya Aqsa (here I am Gaza, here I am Aqsa)” in unison.
Pro-Palestine rally, Karachi Pakistan Sunday, 10/15 pic.twitter.com/7MHftx8FcZ
— Eugene Puryear (@EugenePuryear) October 15, 2023
While holding Palestinian flags, the protesters marched from Baloch colony to Nursery bus stop near the Shahrah-e-Faisal boulevard. The demonstrators showed their resentment towards the Israeli aggression that escalated after Hamas militants broke the siege and attacked the military installments and settlements.
“The state belongs to Palestinians,” the protesters shouted.
Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist political party, had organized the march but the solidarity march gained widespread support across the civil society and trade unions in Karachi.
According to protesters, the disregard for ongoing war crimes in Gaza reflects the double standards of the international community.
Pakistan is among the few countries in South Asia that has maintained a clear position on Palestine sovereignty and condemned Israeli occupation. The country never recognized the legitimacy of Israel ever since it was created in 1948.
Sunday’s massive rally was just one of many which have taken place in solidarity with the Palestinian cause across Pakistan. On October 13, several thousands of people held protest rallies in cities of Karachi, Peshawar, Lahore and Islamabad in which they burnt the flags of US and Israel.
The current caretaker government has also condemned the “indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force by Israeli authorities” and “the inhumane blockade and collective punishment by Israeli forces.”
On October 14, Pakistani delegate Rabia Ijaz told the General Assembly’s Sixth Legal Committee that the unacceptable collective punishment of people of Gaza amounts to war crimes.
While stating the official stand, the Pakistani delegate added that the international community needed to work together for a “just, comprehensive and lasting two-state solution with a viable, sovereign and contiguous State of Palestine on the basis of pre-1967 borders, with Al Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital”.
