KARACHI: Thousands of people, including a large number of women and children, on Sunday rallied in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi to urge the world to force Israel to stop attacks on Gaza and hold it accountable for its “crimes against humanity.”
The war on Gaza broke out after Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, which killed more than 1,100 people, in response to the deteriorating condition of the Palestinian people living under Israeli occupation.
Israel launched a retaliatory offensive, widely viewed as disproportionate, in which more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have lost their lives, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Sunday’s rally in Karachi was organized by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party and attended by thousands of men, women, and children, with participants carrying placards and banners, and chanting slogans in support of the Palestinians.
“Israel should be tried for its crimes against humanity and it should be forced to immediately stop the genocide of the Palestinians,” JI chief Naeem-ur-Rehman said, urging Muslim rulers to get united in support of Palestine.
He hailed the youth worldwide, including in the Western world, for criticizing their own governments’ pro-Israel policies.
“The youth in Pakistan and worldwide are at the forefront to raise voice against the Israeli terrorism against people of Palestine,” Rehman said.
“The US and the West’s state-sponsored terrorism against the innocent people of Palestine by Israel has exposed all of them and their double standards.”
Zeb Irfan, an A-levels student, lamented that children were dying in Gaza, but the world leaders didn’t just care.
“People are dying, mostly like children, elderly people, mothers, fathers, all those people like over there in Palestine, mostly in Gaza, Rafah and all states are dying. We are living in this world, they just don’t care,” she said.
Irfan said she attended the protest to tell the people of Palestine that she stood by them. “My demand is like to tell them [world community] that they [Palestinians] deserve peace, they deserve freedom,” she added.
Usman Shaikh, who works at a private firm, urged more people to come out in support of the Palestinians and against Israeli strikes on Gaza.
“I want to let them [people of Palestine] know that we are standing with them and Pakistanis are also in solidarity with them, we have to come out,” he said.
Asma Saleem, a teacher, said what was happening in Gaza was a “genocide.”
“But we can just see the silence everywhere, there is no steps being taken, but except for the protest that we guys are asking the governments of all Muslim countries to get together and take a step ahead to stop this genocide,” she said.
“They [Palestinians] are trying to get shelter, they [Israeli forces] are targeting those sheltered areas, they are also stopping the aid from reaching those Muslims. We should stop this war as soon as possible.”
