ISLAMABAD – Pakistan observed Friday as Palestine Day to show solidarity with the people of Palestine who have been facing a massacre at the hands of Israeli occupation forces for the past 11 days.
Rallies, protests and seminars are organised across the country to express solidarity with the Palestinians.
Israel has been pounding Gaza with air strikes for 11 days, killing nearly 250 men, women and children after the hostilities flared up following Sheikh Jarrah evictions and Israeli police’s brutality at the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Pakistan raised its voice against the Israeli aggression at the United Nations, with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi saying that voice of the Palestinians could not be suppressed.
Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also expressed solidarity with the Palestinians.
پاکستان کا ہر فرد غزہ اور فلسطین کے ساتھ یکجہتی کیلئے اپنے وزیر اعظم عمران خان کی پکار پر لبیک کہے گا، پاکستان کا ہر فرد آپ کے ساتھ ہے ہم سب فلسطین ہیں۔۔۔ سیز فائر ہونا ایک کامیابی ہے لیکن آپ کے حقوق ملنے تک ہم اس جدوجہد میں آپ کے ساتھ ہیں #UnitedForPalestine
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) May 21, 2021
National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf also did the same in a tweet.
Pakistan 🇵🇰 stands in solidarity with Palestinians 🇵🇸 in their struggle for freedom from occupation. There can be no lasting peace without an independent and contigous Palestinian State with Al-Quds as its capital. Our policy on 🇵🇸 is guided by the vision of Quaid-e-Azam.
— Moeed W. Yusuf (@YusufMoeed) May 21, 2021
Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed the officials to make preparations for the state-level protests against the Israeli atrocities in Palestine on Friday.
The PM had issued the orders during a meeting he chaired of government spokespersons. The aides of the PM had advised him to hold such a demonstration on Friday.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/21-May-2021/pakistan-welcomes-israel-hamas-ceasefire
Speaking on the occasion, National Security Adviser Moeed Yousuf said Pakistan stands by the people of Palestine and there would be no lasting peace without an independent Palestinian state.
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf of the PPP also expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine as they visited the United Nations office in Islamabad.
Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar and Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri also attended a rally to show solidarity with the people of Palestine.