KARACHI: Pakistan’s legendary classical dancer and leading human rights activist Sheema Kermani said on Saturday she was “escorted out” of an event at the British Deputy High Commission in Karachi after she called for peace in Gaza by raising the slogan “Ceasefire Now.” 

Israel besieged the Gaza Strip and launched airstrikes after a surprise attack was initiated by Hamas on Oct. 7 in response to the deteriorating condition of Palestinian people living under Israeli occupation. 

According to Palestinian health authorities, at least 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, have died in the area since the beginning of the Israeli offensive that has led to disproportionate killings of civilians in attacks on hospitals and residential neighborhoods. 

Western leaders, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, visited Israel last month to express solidarity with its people in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack that led to the killings of about 1,200 Israelis. 

Kermani said she raised the slogan to seek an end to Israel’s relentless bombardment and military invasion of Gaza at a gathering arranged to celebrate King Charles’s birthday on Friday. 

“Amid the congratulations showered upon the British Government and the royal family, there was a visible absence of any acknowledgment of the atrocities unfolding in Gaza,” she said while speaking to Arab News. 

“Unable to remain silent, I felt compelled to take a stand and raised a slogan calling for ceasefire,” she continued. “Regrettably, as I was being escorted out and I left the gathering, none of the other attendees, not a single one, chose to join me in expressing their dissent.” 

Responding to Arab News’s query about the incident, a spokesperson of the British High Commission issued this written statement: “We are disappointed that an important speech on tackling climate change in Pakistan was interrupted at the UK’s National Day event. A disruptive guest was asked to stop shouting, but instead volunteered to leave and later apologised to High Commission staff.” 

Historians widely view the Israel-Palestine issue as an outcome of British colonialism since its authorities expressed support for the establishment of a national homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine in the 1917 Balfour Declaration. 

At the time, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire, and the declaration significantly influenced the future geopolitical landscape of the region. 

Britain was later granted the mandate to govern Palestine by the League of Nations after World War I. 

This period between 1920 and 1948 was marked by rising tensions and conflict between the Jewish and Arab populations, making it difficult for the British administration to balance the commitments made in the Balfour Declaration with the political and civil rights of the Arab population in Palestine.