By Syed Wahaj Ahmed
KARACHI: Experts and educationists have pleaded for the right of self-determination of Palestinians and dubbed it as only solution to their issues, while highlighting the current status of the Palestine’s independence.
They said this while speaking at a seminar titled: “Contemporary Situation in Occupied Areas of Palestine” organised by University of Karachi Department of International Relations in collaboration with the distinguished Palestinian delegation and Palestine Foundation Pakistan Secretary General Dr Sabir Abu Maryam.
Yousef Abbas and Dr Adeeb Yasir Ji from Global Campaign to Return to Palestine, faculty members, researchers, and students from various educational institutes and varsities took part in it.
Welcoming guests and chairing the proceedings of programme, KU IR department head Dr Naeem Ahmed enunciated his views on benefits of people to people relations between Pakistan and Palestine.
“Palestinians are fighting a war for their right to self-determination,” he said.
KU Dean Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Professor Dr Shaista Tabassum as a keynote speaker said and raised a question that it is important to decide whether the problem of Palestine is the problem of the land war or it is a war of religion and jihad. She also put forward important questions regarding the current status of the Palestinians’ struggle for independence and its future and also mentioned the similarity between Palestine and Kashmir issues.
Former chairperson of KU Department Dr Talat Wizarat highlighted the significance of humanitarian and rights-based aspects of the Palestinian issue and expressed fear of biological warfare being conducted by Israelis against the Palestinians.
The Palestinian delegation lauded Pakistan for strongly supporting their cause, while throwing light on services of Allama Mohammad Iqbal and Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the geopolitical importance of the country in the Muslim world.
They highlighted the current situation in Palestine and explained the increasing magnitude of Israeli oppression against Palestinians and said that the people in Palestine were being tortured like people from no other place in the world.
They explained that the Palestinians are being continuously expelled from their native land and Muslim women are being kidnapped, raped, and killed. They rejected the ‘Two-State Solution’ for Palestine and declared it contradictory to the basic and universal principles of justice.
They also said that the morale of young Palestinians and mothers of martyrs has not been affected by the Israeli oppression and genocide, and rather continues to increase. They also noted the similarities between the Palestinian and Kashmir issues.
They emphasized that the responsibility of Pakistan’s people is to make their country stable and powerful first for ultimately supporting the cause of Palestine at the international level. They elaborated that the people to people communication among the Muslim Ummah is of central importance for the resolution of the Palestinian issue. They also called for holding an international moot aimed to highlight the Palestine issue so that it could be addressed soon.
What’s more, Dr Sabir Abu Maryam addressed students and encouraged them to speak for Palestinian cause. He questioned the ambiguities which are being created in Pakistan regarding the country’s support for the Palestinian cause as an organized effort aimed at Pakistan’s gradual building of relations and eventual recognition of Israel.
Citing the example of walls being built by Israel on the Jordanian border and expensive Israeli trade for Egypt, he said adding that recognizing the Zionist state of Israel could never benefit any Arab country in the long run.
The participants also shared their views, while fostering an in-depth understanding of the multifaceted aspects of the Palestinian issue and expatiating on potential avenues for constructive dialogue and a viable solution. A question- and-answer session was also conducted in the end.
Why the UN becomes silent when it comes to any right of Muslims? It’s a big question on the face of the entire West and rights champions’ organisations.
Palestinians are our Muslim brothers and we’ll always keep strengthening hands of our Muslim brothers and sisters, until they might get their complete independence from Isreal’s atrocities.