JI sets up Palestine Fund

LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami ameer Sirajul Haq has established the Palestine Fund for helping out the victims of relentless Israeli bombardment on Gaza, urging the nation to extend their generous support to the besieged and bleeding Muslim brethren of Gaza.

Speaking at a press conference at Mansoora on Thursday, he assured the general public that every donated penny would reach the Palestinians in need. He said the volunteers of the JI’s charity, al-Khidmat Foundation, were already stationed in Istanbul, working alongside other international humanitarian organisations to devise a plan for accessing the affected area.

He informed the journalists about the commencement of the al-Qudas committee, designed to raise awareness on the ongoing Palestine issue. The committee, headed by Raja Zafarul Haq, with JI's vice-emir Liaqat Baloch as the coordinator, includes members from various political parties, including the PPP, PTI, JUI-F, JUI-S, ANP, and others, would hold meetings with the ambassadors of different countries in Islamabad today (Friday), he said.

Siraj vehemently condemned the Zionist state for its blatant commitment of war crimes, specifically targeting the unarmed wounded, women, children in hospitals, schools in Gaza, and lamented that Washington was providing complete support to Zionist war crimes by supplying arms, ammunition and financial aid. Expressing disappointment with the recent ministerial-level meeting of the OIC in Jeddah, he called for an OIC summit on the issue, demanding concrete steps to resolve the ongoing crises. He urged the rulers of the Islamic world to take tangible steps against the Zionist agenda. He said Israel considers Pakistan as its top enemy. He said the visit of the US president to Israel, during a time when occupying forces were ruthlessly taking the lives of innocent civilians in Palestine, stood as a stark challenge to the civilised world, aiming at conveying to the Muslim nation that no one could hold Israeli accountable for her actions.

Highlighting the significance of unity within the Muslim Ummah, he emphasised its necessity in liberating the holy land from the unlawful Jewish state. He commended the unity demonstrated by the Pakistani nation on the issue of Palestine and stressed the imperative need for similar unity at the governmental level within the Islamic world.

Meanwhile, Tanzim-i-Islami ameer Shujauddin Shaikh has said the merciless bombing on hospitals, schools has proved that Zionists are enemies of humanity, and are out on the genocide of the Palestinians under the plan of establishing greater Israel and demolishing Al-Aqsa mosque to build temple mount on its place.

He was addressing a protest demonstration outside Lahore Press Club on Thursday to condemn the Israeli bombardment on unarmed besieged Palestinians in Gaza. Demanding immediate response from Islamic governments to save Al-Aqsa and the lives of Palestinian people, he lamented that western governments are giving full support to Israel's war crimes and the terrorist Israel is being portrayed as the victim. He said US President's visit to Israel is also a link in this chain, adding that under a well-thought-out plan, hospitals in Gaza and congested residential areas are being bombed.