Pakistan demands end to Gaza genocide, Israeli occupation: Senator Mushahid

By Our Correspondent
October 27, 2023
A smoke plume rises during a forest fire that reportedly ignited after a shell fire from Israel, in the Labouneh area in southern Lebanon close to the border with northern Israel, on October 26, 2023. — AFP
A smoke plume rises during a forest fire that reportedly ignited after a shell fire from Israel, in the Labouneh area in southern Lebanon close to the border with northern Israel, on October 26, 2023. — AFP

ISLAMABAD: Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed has said that West, particularly the USA, is complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestine that killed 500 children, destroyed 25 percent of houses and rendered 600,000 Palestinians homeless.

Addressing the general assembly of the IPU, Senator Mushahid Hussain said Palestinian resistance to illegal Israeli occupation is justified under international law and the UN Charter, as it is a natural reaction to 56 years of occupation and brutal Israeli practices, including killings of innocent Palestinian children, women and men, with 560 checkpoints in occupied West Bank.

“Western hypocrisy and double standards, particularly from the United States, were complicit in Israeli crimes, as they even oppose a ceasefire in Gaza since they want Israel to continue the carnage, which has led to bombings of 19 hospitals, including Al Ahli Hospital,” asserted the Senator.

He said Israel always termed the Palestinians as ‘ terrorists’, whether it was Yasser Arafat or Hamas, recalling that Hamas as a political organisation had won what former US President Jimmy Carter termed ‘as the most free elections in the Middle East’ in 2007.

He said Pakistan demands an end to the Gaza Genocide, an end to the 16-year old blockade of Gaza, an end to Israeli occupation, an end to desecration of Muslim holy places and establishing a free Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Speaking on Islamophobia, Senator Mushahid Hussain termed this as a big threat to interfaith harmony and peaceful coexistence in diverse societies as it stems from hate, bigotry and racism, often leading to violence against Muslims living in the West.

“Necessary legislation is required in the West to combat Islamophobia,” said the Senator.

The IPU comprises 170 member parliaments, in which Pakistan has an active role as elected member of the Executive Council, The Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians and the Committee on Peace and Democracy.