People take to the streets to protest West’s ‘silence’ over killing of civilians, particularly children and journalists
Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Sindh Pakistan
Thousands of people took to the streets of Karachi, Pakistan’s southern port city, on Wednesday to protest the West’s “silence” over the killing of civilians, particularly children and journalists, in intensified Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of journalists and their families gathered at the Karachi Press Club to express solidarity with their Middle Eastern colleagues killed in the line of duty in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since Oct. 7.
Carrying banners and placards engraved with slogans such as “Stop targeting journalists,” “You can’t hide the truth by killing journalists,” and “Hold Israel accountable for journalists’ killing in Gaza,” as protesters marched towards the Governor House.
“We stand with Palestinian journalists,” read the slogan on a large banner carried by women and children.
At least 36 journalists and media workers have been killed since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Israel’s war on Gaza has become the deadliest four-week period for journalists covering the armed conflict, it added.
Journalists in their speeches to the rally blamed Israeli and US leaders “equally responsible” for the deaths of journalists in Gaza.
“It’s the US and some so-called Muslim countries, whose criminal silence has emboldened Israel to kill unarmed Palestinians with full impunity,” they said.
The Palestinian journalists’ only crime was to “expose an organized genocide” in Gaza. You can’t hide the truth by killing us (journalists),” they said.
Children join solidarity march
Thousands of children from different schools and religious seminaries rallied in Karachi to express solidarity with the families of slain Palestinian children.
Wearing arm and headbands and waving Palestinian flags, children packed the main Shara-e- Quaidin.
Addressing the rally, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, the Karachi chief of Jama’at-e-Islami, the country’s mainstream religiopolitical party and organizer of the event, said Israeli airstrikes have turned Gaza into a “graveyard of children,” but the so-called civilized world is restricted in mere condemnation.
“What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for each and every citizen of Gaza die?” Rahman said, urging the international community to hold Israel accountable for war crimes in Gaza.
At least 40,000 people have been killed, injured, or gone missing in Israel’s ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
Salama Marouf, a spokesman for the office, told reporters late Tuesday that 10,328 people, including 4,237 children, 2,719 women, and 631 elderly people, have been killed.
Marouf said nearly 26,000 others have been injured and more than 3,000 people are missing.
Some 1,600 people have been killed in Israel, according to official statements.
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Aamir Latif is a senior journalist based in Karachi. He represents Anadolu, a Turkish news agency.
Courtesy: Anadolu Agency (Posted on 08.11.2023)
