• NA resolution demands Israeli pullout from Gaza
• Govt, Opp leaders stand together at symbolic funeral prayer

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday called for holding Israel accountable for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran earlier this week, as leaders from both sides of the aisle came together in a bi-partisan show of solidarity with their Palestinian brethren.

Speaking in the National Assembly after the house unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the assassination, he warned that simmering public fury would go out of control and disrupt peace and development in the world if the Zionist state was not held accountable.

Lawmakers and cabinet members also joined the prime minister as they offered a symbolic funeral prayer for Haniyeh, who was laid to rest in Qatar on Friday.

Speaking in the assembly, PM Shehbaz said that Haniyeh’s martyrdom was a blow to peace efforts.

He denounced the atrocities being perpetrated by Israel, adding that around 40,000 Palestinians had been killed so far.

The PM questioned the inaction of the world to end the Israeli oppression.

“This is a question by an infant who was killed moments after his birth. This is a question by a mother, now in paradise, whose baby was aborted after she was killed. This is a question by a child awaiting his mother in the hospital… Finally, the answer has to be given,” he remarked.

Reaffirming Pakistan’s full support to the Palestinians, he said Pakistan will continue to supply humanitarian help to them.

He said it has been decided to take effective steps for the provision of medical treatment to the injured Palestinians.

“For this purpose, the injured Palestinians will be brought to Pakistan,” he said, adding that Palestinian medical students will be enrolled in Pakistan’s institutions.

PM Shehbaz emphasised the need for making the platform of OIC more effective to address the plight of Palestinian people.

PTI displays solidarity

PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan started his speech by saying that “politics is silent today and we stand in solidarity with the government and the nation of Pakistan. We stand as one nation in this regard”.

He said Israel and India were two countries that violated world laws without any fear of accountability and the Muslim Ummah failed to respond to the atrocities being committed by these countries.

He said the Muslim world needs to form a bloc in the United Nations and strengthen the OIC.

Call doe dialogue

Former PM and PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf called for initiating a dialogue. Regretting the prevailing culture of infighting, he said, “We have bruised the faces of each other”. He also lamented divisions in the name of religion, language and region and called for putting the house in order.

He urged the PM to take the initiative and open a dialogue with political parties. He said this was how Pakistan could not only be saved but become a source of strength for the Ummah.

PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai called for running the country’s affairs in accordance with the constitution. He said the constitution defines the domains of all institutions, which should be strictly followed.

Resolution

Earlier, the house unanimously passed a resolution calling for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire, and provision of sustainable and unhindered humanitarian assistance to the beleaguered Palestinians, and immediate withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Gaza in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2735 (2024).

It also urged the UN Security Council to take effective measures to impose its call for a ceasefire in Gaza and hold Israel accountable for its war crimes and crimes against humanity inflicted on the Palestinians.

The house asked the international community to take an effective collective action to halt Israel’s oppression and brutalities, and deliver justice to the Palestinian people.

It also called for the immediate admission of the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations.

The resolution called Haniyeh’s killing a “deliberate conspiracy to sabotage” Gaza ceasefire efforts.

Later, Prime Minister Shehbaz, members of the cabinet and the parliamentarians offered funeral prayer in absentia of Mr Haniyeh.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2024