LAHORE: A student organization blocked the road leading to the United States Consulate in Lahore on Tuesday, protesting the American support for Israel’s war in Gaza by making fiery speeches for several hours and chanting pro-Palestine slogans.
The Progressive Students’ Collective (PSC) is a student-led movement in Pakistan which has staged protests in solidarity with the Palestinian cause, including disrupting a speech by the German ambassador to the country last week.
Both students and civil society activists highlighted the “glaring hypocrisy” of western nations like the United States and Germany, saying they raised human rights concerns in the developing states while staying silent about the plight of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
A media statement issued by the PSC advocated for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel and its powerful state and corporate funders while highlighting the Palestinian rights to resist, right and self-determination.
There were hundreds of Palestinian flags and people wearing keffiyeh, chanting slogans in favor of intifada and revolution.
“When looking at atrocities being committed across the globe, [we have to ask] who is enabling them,” 23-year-old Ali Raza, who delivered the opening address at the protest, told Arab News. “It is on American shoulders that Israelis put their weapons before firing them at Palestinians.”
He went on to describe Israel as a “proxy state,” policing the Middle East for “western imperial powers.”
Raza, the former PSC vice president, said the students chose the US consulate as the venue for protest because since it was the largest state funder of Israeli occupation.
Earlier, the told the gathering the US monitored freedom of expression across the world, but police officers retrain American university professors by force who speak up for Palestinian rights, adding that was what hypocrisy looked like.
At the Asma Jahangir Conference in Lahore last Saturday, the current PSC spokesperson, Ali Abdullah Khan, protested against the German ambassador’s speech and disrupted him while he was discussing civil rights in South Asia.
“We protested against him, protested against his invitation [to the conference],” he told Arab News.
Khan said the students’ collective wanted to make Pakistan an important part of the global student-led BDS movement against Israel.
He pointed out the PSC wanted to show solidarity with the students who were being expelled from Columbia University in New York for protesting against the Israeli occupation.
“We support the Palestinian right to resist, we support the Palestinian right to return, we support the Palestinian right to self-determination,” Khan said in his speech to the demonstration. “We want to talk about putting an end to settler colonialism, putting an end to imperialism and we want to talk about a free and independent Palestinian state.”
Students in Lahore protest America’s ‘hypocritical’ support for Israel’s war in Gaza
https://arab.news/9uwbe
Students in Lahore protest America’s ‘hypocritical’ support for Israel’s war in Gaza
- Students say United States raises rights concerns everywhere without criticizing Israel for its occupation
- They block the road leading to the American consulate, make fiery speeches and chant slogans for hours
Azad Kashmir President Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry dies at 71
- Pakistan prime minister praises Chaudhry’s advocacy for the Kashmir cause
- AJK Presidential Office says he died in Islamabad after a prolonged illness
ISLAMABAD: Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, the president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and a veteran Kashmiri politician, died in Islamabad on Saturday after a prolonged illness, according to an official statement from the AJK Presidential Office. He was 71.
His funeral prayers will be held on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium, the statement said.
Chaudhry, who served multiple times as prime minister and opposition leader in AJK before becoming president in 2021, was one of the region’s most prominent political figures and a long-time advocate of the Kashmir cause at international forums.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep sorrow over Chaudhry’s death in a statement.
“Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry was a farsighted political leader who spent his entire life in the service of the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir,” Sharif said in a statement issued by his office.
Born on August 9, 1955, in Chichian, Mirpur, Chaudhry received his early education in his native village, completed his matriculation from Cantonment Public School Rawalpindi and graduated from Gordon College Rawalpindi before traveling to Britain, where he earned a law degree from Lincoln’s Inn. He returned to Pakistan in 1983 and entered active politics.
Over his political career, Chaudhry was elected nine times from his Mirpur constituency and held several senior positions, including prime minister of AJK in 1996 and opposition leader in the legislative assembly in 2001. He also led multiple political parties in AJK, including the Muslim Conference, the Peoples Party AJK chapter and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf AJK chapter.
The AJK Presidential Office said Chaudhry played a central role in raising the Kashmir issue globally, addressing international institutions, foreign governments and parliaments, and leading protests and demonstrations in cities including London, New York, Brussels and Berlin. It said he was the only AJK leader to have been permitted to visit Indian-administered Kashmir, where he addressed a public gathering at Srinagar’s Lal Chowk and met senior Kashmiri leaders.
Sharif said Chaudhry “raised a strong voice against Indian oppression of the Kashmiri people and in support of the Kashmir cause.”
“His service to the Kashmiri people and his struggle for the Kashmir cause will always be remembered in history,” he added.
