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
Pakistan, global crypto exchange discuss modernizing digital payments, creating job prospects
- Pakistani officials, Binance team discuss coordination between Islamabad, local banks and global exchanges
- Pakistan has attempted to tap into growing crypto market to curb illicit transactions, improve oversight
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s finance officials and the team of a global cryptocurrency exchange on Friday held discussions aimed at modernizing the country’s digital payments system and building local talent pipelines to meet rising demand for blockchain and Web3 skills, the finance ministry said.
The development took place during a high-level meeting between Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) Chairman Bilal bin Saqib, domestic bank presidents and a Binance team led by Global CEO Richard Teng. The meeting was held to advance work on Pakistan’s National Digital Asset Framework, a regulatory setup to govern Pakistan’s digital assets.
Pakistan has been moving to regulate its fast-growing crypto and digital assets market by bringing virtual asset service providers (VASPs) under a formal licensing regime. Officials say the push is aimed at curbing illicit transactions, improving oversight, and encouraging innovation in blockchain-based financial services.
“Participants reviewed opportunities to modernize Pakistan’s digital payments landscape, noting that blockchain-based systems could significantly reduce costs from the country’s $38 billion annual remittance flows,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
“Discussions also emphasized building local talent pipelines to meet rising global demand for blockchain and Web3 skills, creating high-value employment prospects for Pakistani youth.”
Blockchain is a type of digital database that is shared, transparent and tamper-resistant. Instead of being stored on one computer, the data is kept on a distributed network of computers, making it very hard to alter or hack.
Web3 refers to the next generation of the Internet built using blockchain, focusing on giving users more control over their data, identity and digital assets rather than big tech companies controlling it.
Participants of the meeting also discussed sovereign debt tokenization, which is the process of converting a country’s debt such as government bonds, into digital tokens on a blockchain, the ministry said.
Aurangzeb called for close coordination between the government, domestic banks and global exchanges to modernize Pakistan’s payment landscape.
Participants of the meeting also discussed considering a “time-bound amnesty” to encourage users to move assets onto regulated platforms, stressing the need for stronger verifications and a risk-mitigation system.
Pakistan has attempted in recent months to tap into the country’s growing crypto market, crack down on money laundering and terror financing, and promote responsible innovation — a move analysts say could bring an estimated $25 billion in virtual assets into the tax net.
In September, Islamabad invited international crypto exchanges and other VASPs to apply for licenses to operate in the country, a step aimed at formalizing and regulating its fast-growing digital market.
