Islamabad, Pakistan: All Parties Conference (APC) on Palestine was attended by all political parties of Pakistan except PTI. The conference was jointly hosted by Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, the Pakistan People’s Party, and the PMLN-led government in the center here on Monday.
PTI sources claim that PTI initially decided to participate in today’s APC to show support with Palestine but decided at night not to participate after a lot of harsh words were exchanged between Chairman Barrister Gohar and PTI’s media team sitting in the United States. “Finally foreign group prevailed on the plea that its foreign donors and partners will get angry if we (PTI) support Palestine. This is the real reason why today PTI did not participate in the All Parties Conference on Palestine’, commented an important PTI leader on the condition of not revealing her/his identity.
An all-party conference was held to express solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians, where the national leadership demanded the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and membership of the United Nations. The APC was chaired by the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari. APC was attended by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chairman People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, JUI (F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other political leaders of the country.
In this regard, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar presented a joint resolution strongly condemning Israel’s genocidal actions and said that Pakistan will redouble its efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
President Asif Ali Zardari said in his address that Yasir Arafat kept coming here, I kept meeting him along with late Benazir Bhutto. He added that a year ago Israel attacked Gaza and Palestine, and Israel’s actions are endangering the world. Apart from Palestine, Israel is also attacking Lebanon. He added that Israel is committing genocide of Palestinians, 41 thousand Palestinians have been martyred due to Israeli aggression. The health and education infrastructure in Palestine and Gaza has been destroyed. President Asif Ali Zardari said that we demand the United Nations to stop Israel from aggression. We will continue to raise the issue of Israel’s human rights violations in every forum, we call on the UN Security Council to stop Israel from aggression. He said that Israel should return from all occupied Arab territories, the international community has failed to stop the genocide of Palestinians.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who closed the conference, praised the participants for their solidarity on the Palestinian issue. He reiterated Pakistan’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and called for a ceasefire.
“What Israel is doing in Palestine is unimaginable. Innocent people are being slaughtered, and the world powers are silent,” said Sharif. “We will form a group of experts to visit key international capitals and deliver Pakistan’s message of solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami who took the initiative of APC, Hafiz Naeem said that in the context of Pakistan’s resolution, Pakistan does not recognize Israel as an independent state. Quaid-e-Azam had declared Israel as an illegitimate state in 1940, but Pakistan has never recognized the existence of Israel. He also said that “we have a clear position that Israel is an illegitimate and occupying state, Quaid-e-Azam had said that Pakistan will never recognize Israel”.
MQM Pakistan chief Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said in his address that we have done political demonstrations, but there is a need to talk further. He said that I think there is a need to go ahead and raise the voice diplomatically, and convey the message of Pakistan to all Islamic countries. He said that the Prime Minister should announce to sponsor the children of Palestine in all the universities of Pakistan, any practical steps should be announced today. He said that we have condemned, we cannot repair, we should announce practical measures today.
In his address to the All Parties Conference, Khalid Magsi said that our shouting would not make any difference to Israel. How will we stand before Allah on the Day of Judgment? We should all look into our necks. Khalid Magsi said that the people of Palestine are not at a loss, they are succeeding.
Muslim League (Q) leader Chaudhry Salik Hussain said that the Prime Minister’s speech at the UN also had a great impact. He said that we should talk openly here, children are being martyred in Palestine, and we should think about the solution to the Palestine problem. He said that so many women and children were not martyred in any war. After seeing the facts, we should decide on a strategy in this regard.
Abdul Aleem Khan, the leader of the Stabilization Pakistan Party, said that it has been a year since the Israeli brutality. We have not really done anything for Palestine, we have not done what we could. He said that the massacre of Palestinian children was going on even during the UN meeting. The world has gone numb. We are divided into many things. He said that there is nothing left for those countries which were divided among themselves, today look at those countries where there was fitna and corruption. Abdul Aleem Khan said that the countries where Israel attacked were not economically stable, they were divided. Do politics but put the country first.
Awami National Party leader Amil Wali Khan said that we should think about how to end the oppression of Palestinians. He said that along with Palestine we will also talk about the freedom of Kashmir. Afghanistan is also an oppressed country. He said that let the Kashmiris make their own decisions, we should also look at our own country. Emil Wali said that the cry we are crying for Palestine should not be the same for Balochistan and KP in the next 50 years.
The APC concluded with a unanimous resolution calling for the immediate cessation of Israeli hostilities and urging the Muslim world to form a unified platform to defend Palestinian rights. The participants also agreed on sending a delegation to key international capitals to raise awareness of Israel’s crimes.
The resolution declared that Israel’s ongoing actions are a grave threat to regional stability and world peace, and called on global powers to take immediate action.
