• Says Palestinians to have their homeland back soon
• Praises foreign minister for effectively raising issue at UNGA
• Countrywide rallies held to support Palestinians

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a televised address to the nation on Friday, said a day would come soon when the Palestinians would have their own homeland, as for the first time the global public opinion was changing and slamming Israel for its brutalism against innocent Palestinians.

“I am seeing that public opinion of the world is changing and voices are coming even from the West against Israeli aggression,” said Mr Khan as the nation observed Palestine Solidarity Day.

Rallies were held across the country to express solidarity with the people of Palestine on the occasion.

The premier said having spent a long time in the West he had never observed such criticism in the western media against the Israeli forces over their atrocities against Palestinians before. “Instead they all [thought] as if injustice was being done to Israel, but this is for the first time that voices have started rising from there,” Mr Khan said, adding that even politicians in the US were criticising Israel.

“I never thought that they would criticise Israel in America or western countries. A big reason for this change in public opinion is social media. Even if the mainstream [media] stops or censors any report, social media is such a force that no one can stop news or communication,” he added.

Mr Khan said when Israel renewed the assaults he talked to the Muslim world leaders and all were committed to help Palestine and condemn Israeli brutalities at all forums.

He mentioned he was in Madina when he came to know of the fresh attacks by Israeli police on worshippers in Al Aqsa on the 27th of Ramazan and the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes by settlers. “Very next day I met the secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and called for the OIC to take a stand on it and raise the issue in the UN.

The prime minister said he also talked to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman after returning to Pakistan and both agreed they should raise their voice regarding the injustice against Palestinians and what happened to Muslims at Al Aqsa mosque.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad had voiced similar sentiments in their calls to him, Mr Khan recalled. He said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was assured of full support by not only Pakistan and rest of the Muslim world, but also “everyone who believes in justice”.

Referring to the apartheid regime in South Africa and how public opinion had changed against it some 30 years back, PM Khan said the regime, too, had been supported by “major world powers”.

But once public opinion changed, the same world powers had to pressure the South African regime to give equal rights to Africans and Asians, he added.

“I am seeing similar signs of a change in the world’s public opinion and these big countries which had been supporting Israel up till now will exert full pressure to give Palestinians their full rights and a day will come when Palestinians will get their own country, a just settlement and they will be able to live as equal citizens,” he added.

Speaking about the protests being carried out in support of Palestine on Palestine Solidarity Day, he said he was very “happy” to see how the nation had come out in support of the cause and highlighted and condemned the injustices in Palestine. “I want to pay tribute to you all,” he remarked.

Since Israel’s inception, the prime minister said, Pakistan’s stance on the issue had forever been the one espoused by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah: “A great injustice has been done against the Palestinians.”

Pakistan had supported and stood with Palestinians on every forum, he said.

The prime minister said he then tasked Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi with raising the issue along with other Muslim countries and members of the OIC at the UN General Assembly. He said Mr Qureshi had raised it in a very concentrated manner and “I praise him for that.”

Earlier on Thursday, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Religious Harmony and Middle East and Pakistan Ulema Council chairman Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi had told a presser that on the PM’s instructions, Palestine Solidarity Day would be observed across the country on May 21 to express solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2021