Ex-senator Mushtaq gets heroic welcome after release from Israeli detention

ISLAMABAD: Former senator Mushtaq Ahmad, who was detained by the Israeli forces in the Gaza aid flotilla interception last week, arrived in Islamabad on Thursday afternoon.

A number of citizens, holding Pakistani and Palestinian flags, reached Islamabad International Airport to welcome the former lawmaker. The citizens showered rose petals and raised slogans in favour of the people of Palestine.

The Jamaat-e-Islami leader, speaking to the media, said that it has been over two years since the mass killing of Muslims in Palestine began. He said that thousands of children in Gaza have been left disabled and orphaned, adding that he and others spent thirty days and thirty nights at sea during their journey. Ahmad revealed that the flotilla came under three drone attacks during the voyage.

He emphasised that Muslim countries must come together and deliberate on the situation in Palestine, describing the ongoing genocide over the past two years as the height of brutality.

The former senator was released from Israel’s custody and deported to the Pakistan embassy in Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday.