Civil society members gathered at Karachi\u2019s Teen Talwar monument on Wednesday to protest the detention of activists on board the Gaza-bound aid ship Madleen and Israel\u2019s ongoing offensive in Gaza, urging people \u201cnot to rest until the entire world stands in support of Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Israeli forces detained the members of the aid ship, operating under the Freedom Flotilla Foundation, going to Gaza to break Israel\u2019s siege. The activists, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, were carrying baby powder and aid for the besieged enclave. Israel has ramped up its offensive in Gaza, after it ended a ceasefire in March. So far, 55,014 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes.<\/p>\n
Chanting \u201cFree Palestine\u201d echoing through the city\u2019s intersection, civil society members gathered to decry the Palestinian suffering in the face of Israeli occupation. The crowd sang, rejecting Israel\u2019s actions: \u201cAisay dastoor ko mai nahi maanta\u201d (I do not accept this system).<\/p>\n
Speaking to Dawn.com, activist Sheema Kirmani called out the \u201chypocrisy shown by the Muslim world around the Palestinian cause.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe young activists aboard the Madleen went all the way to deliver aid, and yet our leaders, with all their resources, have no interest in doing the same,\u201d Kirmani said.<\/p>\n
Lauding their strength, she hoped that someday, people from Pakistan could also go on such missions.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Israel said it deported Thunberg and three others after seizing the Madleen, according to Al-Jazeera.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day, we are full of sadness and anger at what Israel is doing in Gaza,\u201d she lamented, adding that there was \u201cvery little we can do except raise our voice, get together and protest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conflict is not of religion but of land, and of power\u201d, Kirmani added.<\/p>\n
Protestors gather at the site, waving the Palestinian flag. \u2014 Photo by author
\nEnvironmentalist and activist Zulfiqar Bhutto Jr, while addressing the crowd, said, \u201cThe Palestinian issue is not just for Muslims but for everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we call them (Palestinians) our brothers, then why is Pakistan not doing anything for them?\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cGreta and the activists were forced to do this because no country, including ours, was doing anything for Gaza.<\/p>\n
A representative from the Women Democratic Front noted: \u201cThe West has plenty to say about the perils of Afghan women, but they stay silent at the plight of women in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also, echoing through the crowd were songs hopeful for a free Palestine, \u201cWoh subha kab ayegi\u201d, people sang, calling for an end to the atrocities by Israel in the conclave.<\/p>\n
As Israel ramps up its siege on Gaza, the world has repeatedly called for an end to the offensive.<\/p>\n
Another participant, reading out the names and the countries of the activists aboard the Madleen, questioned, \u201cWhy is there no one from the Muslim world on the list?\u201d<\/p>\n
Drawing parallels with the struggle of Sindhis against \u201cstate actors\u201d, Sindh United Party\u2019s Jagdish Ahuja said, \u201cWe, too, have been deprived of our land and that is why we have always felt the pain of Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Civil society members gathered at Karachi\u2019s Teen Talwar monument on Wednesday to protest the detention of activists on board the Gaza-bound aid ship Madleen and Israel\u2019s ongoing offensive in Gaza, urging people \u201cnot to rest until the entire world stands in support of Palestine.\u201d Earlier this week, Israeli forces detained the members of the aid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9975,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9973\/revisions\/9975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}