Nakba Day rally fizzles out in Karachi
Few dozen Pakistani civil society members call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza, boycott against Israeli brands and those that support war in Gaza
More than a dozen Pakistani students and civil society activists belonging to so called liberal left on Wednesday rallied in the southern port city of Karachi to mark 76 years of Palestinians displaced from their homeland, calling for an end to the alleged “genocide” in Gaza as Israel escalates military action in the Middle East.
Palestinians refer to May 15 as the “Nakba,” Arabic for “catastrophe” when some 700,000 Palestinians in 1948 fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment.
A dozen civil and women’s rights persons took part in the protest rally which began at Do Talwar roundabout in Karachi till Teen Talwar a stretch of around only 1km and continued for only half an hour.
“The civil society of Karachi is marking Nakba Day today and the purpose for that is to identify that Palestinians were the actual residents or the actual people who can lay claim to the land that Israel lays claim to at this point in time,” Ahmed Shabbar, one the organizers, told NEWS360.
However what evident from the procession was that there was no vigor among the participants as only few stayed till teen talwar the culmination point of rally, one of the reason given by a participant for lack of enthusiasm to NEWS360 that as there is scorching sun hence it was difficult to march in that heat.
Separately, few students and teachers rallied at Karachi University as well to protest Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and support American students protesting across Europe and the US.
