Abdul Hadi Mayar Islamabad
A day of protest was observed across Pakistan on Friday to condemn the martyrdom of Hamas leader Ismail Hania and express full solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people, confronting the brutalities of the Israeli regime.
Call for observing the day was given by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the National Assembly and leadership across the political divide, including Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, Pakistan Muslim League-N, Pakistan People’s Party, Mutahidda Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-F, Pashtoon KhwaMilli Party and National Party.
Funeral in absentia was also held for Ismail Hania in the federal capital and all across Pakistan. All the ruling and the opposition political parties asked their supporters to fully participate in observance of the day.
In Islamabad, parliamentarians of all political parties attended the funeral in absentia at the mosque of the Parliament House. Protest marches were held in different parts of the country at which the martyrdom of Ismail Hania and atrocities of Israeli forces against the defenseless Palestinian people were strongly condemned.
This was the first occasion that political leadership from across the divide demonstrated complete unity to send a strong message to Israel that its cruelties against the innocent people of Gaza would not go unnoticed.
In the National Assembly, a resolution was unanimously passed in which the martyrdom of Ismail Hania was described as an extrajudicial killing. The House expressed full solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle against the Israeli occupation forces.
Speaking on the resolution, the Prime Minister paid tributes to Ismail Hania’s sacrifices in the struggle against the Israeli brutalities. He said Israeli forces had also martyred Hania’s three sons and four grandchildren in April this year.
Shahbaz Sharif criticized the United Nations and international organizations for keeping mum over the Israeli barbarities and plight of the Palestinian people. Tehrik-e-Insaf’s Barrister Gohar, PPP’s Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, PMAP’s Mahmood Khan Achakzai, PTI’s Barrister Gohar, JUI-F’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidry, MQM-Pakistan’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and National Party’s Pullan equally condemned the perpetration of inhuman violence by the Israeli forces.
The speakers urged the people of Pakistan and the Islamic world to rise in full support of the Palestinian people to prevail upon Israel that its cruelties cannot continue unabated. They also called upon the international community to ensure implementation of two-state solution in the Middle East.
