KARACHI: Pakistan’s defense minister’s unprecedented response to a top British official’s social media message in support of Israel earlier this week should be seen against the backdrop of public outrage against the Jewish state’s “barbarity” against Palestinians, a senior diplomat told Arab News on Wednesday.
Israeli forces targeted Gaza over the weekend in one of the most serious flare-ups in the region in almost a year.
According to some estimates, more than 40 people, including 15 children, were injured in Israeli rocket attacks that injured more than 300 people.
Pakistan’s defense minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Monday lashed out at British foreign secretary Liz Truss who said her country supported “Israel’s right to defend itself.”
In a Twitter post, Asif accused Britain of “standing by an apartheid, terrorist state” while reminding it of “the original sin of Balfour Declaration” which led to the establishment of Israel on Palestinian territory.
“There is no doubt that people in Pakistan are outraged at what Israel is doing to Palestinians. No fair-minded individual or state can condone such barbarity,” said Abdul Basit, a former Pakistani diplomat, while adding the defense minister’s Tweet should also be viewed in the same context.
“However, it would have been better if the British high commissioner had been summoned by our foreign office to convey the national sentiments,” he added.
Palestine’s ambassador to Pakistan Ahmed Ameen thanked the Pakistani minister “for standing by the side of truth, justice, humanity and freedom” while describing Britain as “mother of colonialism in the world.”
Shazia Marri, a senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader, also condemned Israel for targeting Gaza.
“We condemn human rights violations in Gaza,” she told Arab News. “We support the demand for two-states solution and peaceful settlement of the Palestine-Israel conflict. We condemn all atrocities taking place against Palestinians, especially their women and children.”
Khurrum Sher Zaman, a Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker in Sindh, said his party had always taken a clear stance against “Israeli aggression.”
“Israel is guilty of aggression against Palestinians, including women and children, which cannot be justified, though we still see the international community and its leaders silent over the Gaza airstrikes,” he said. “Standing by Israel amounts to siding with an oppressor.”
Zaman described the UK and other western countries as “biased,” saying the international media had not been fulfilling its journalistic obligations while covering the conflict.
“We, as human beings and as Muslims, have a responsibility of standing by our brothers and sisters who are the most oppressed in the world,” he added.