ISLAMABAD: Several thousand Pakistani Muslims protested across the country after Friday prayers against Israel’s massive bombardment of Gaza in retaliation to Hamas attacks.
Political and religious parties staged dozens of small demonstrations across the cities of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and the capital Islamabad, where US and Israeli flags were burned.
“There is so much tyranny meted out to Palestinians, nobody can tolerate it. It is a waste of life if we don’t stand by the righteous,” said Tahira Khan, a 50-year-old designer who joined one of several protests in Karachi attended by around 2,000 people.
Protester Shahid Husain, 47, said the leaders of Muslim nations were failing to stand up for Palestinians.
“We came to the streets to make our rulers realize that they don’t need to be scared of the US and that the public wants them to be on the side of Palestine — not Israel and America,” he said from Peshawar, where police said around 20 protests were held attended by more than 5,000 people.
A few hundred people also gathered in the Afghan cities of Kabul and Jalalabad for pro-Palestinian rallies organized by Taliban authorities.
“Palestine you are not alone, we are with you,” one speaker told the crowd. “We are poor, but we will do whatever we can. We can’t do much today but use our feet and stand in your support.”
At the weekend, Hamas gunmen killed more than 1,300 people in Israel in the deadliest attack since the country’s creation in 1948.
They seized around 150 hostages — including dozens of Israelis, dual and foreign nationals — whom Hamas is threatening to kill.
Israel has retaliated by raining air and artillery strikes in Gaza for six days, claiming more than 1,500 lives and displacing over 400,000 people in the crowded enclave.
The Pakistan government has condemned the “indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force by Israeli authorities” and “the inhumane blockade and collective punishment by Israeli forces.”
The United Nations has called on the Israeli army to rescind its order for the immediate relocation of 1.1 million people from north to south Gaza, as it relentlessly pounds the enclave.
The cramped and impoverished territory, where 2.3 million residents live on top of each other, has been under a land, air and sea blockade since 2006. Israel has now cut off water, electricity and food supplies, leaving the enclave in a state of siege.
Protests across Pakistan, Afghanistan in support of Palestinians
https://arab.news/p4sv9
Protests across Pakistan, Afghanistan in support of Palestinians
- Political and religious parties staged dozens of small demonstrations across the cities of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and the capital Islamabad
- A few hundred people also gathered in the Afghan cities of Kabul and Jalalabad for pro-Palestinian rallies organized by Taliban authorities
Prabowo, Trump expected to sign Indonesia-US tariff deal in January 2026
- Deal will mean US tariffs on Indonesian products are cut from a threatened 32 percent to 19 percent
- Jakarta committed to scrap tariffs on more than 99 percent of US goods
JAKARTA: Indonesia expects to sign a tariff deal with the US in early 2026 after reaching an agreement on “all substantive issues,” Jakarta's chief negotiator said on Tuesday.
Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto met with US trade representative Jamieson Greer in Washington this week to finalize an Indonesia-US trade deal, following a series of discussions that took place after the two countries agreed on a framework for negotiations in July.
“All substantive issues laid out in the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade have been agreed upon by the two sides, including both the main and technical issues,” Hartarto said in an online briefing.
Officials from both countries are now working to set up a meeting between Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and US President Donald Trump.
It will take place after Indonesian and US technical teams meet in the second week of January for a legal scrubbing, or a final clean-up of an agreement text.
“We are expecting that the upcoming technical process will wrap up in time as scheduled, so that at the end of January 2026 President Prabowo and President Trump can sign the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade,” Hartarto said.
Indonesian trade negotiators have been in “intensive” talks with their Washington counterparts since Trump threatened to levy a 32 percent duty on Indonesian exports.
Under the July framework, US tariffs on Indonesian imports were lowered to 19 percent, with Jakarta committing to measures to balance trade with Washington, including removing tariffs on more than 99 percent of American imports and scrapping all non-tariff barriers facing American companies.
Jakarta also pledged to import $15 billion worth of energy products and $4.5 billion worth of agricultural products such as soybeans, wheat and cotton, from the US.
“Indonesia will also get tariff exemptions on top Indonesian goods, such as palm oil, coffee, cocoa,” Hartarto said.
“This is certainly good news, especially for Indonesian industries directly impacted by the tariff policy, especially labor-intensive sectors that employ around 5 million workers.”
In the past decade, Indonesia has consistently posted trade surpluses with the US, its second-largest export market after China.
From January to October, data from the Indonesian trade ministry showed two-way trade valued at nearly $36.2 billion, with Jakarta posting a $14.9 billion surplus.
