https://arab.news/2zvsx
- Sharif supporters carried Palestinian flags along with party banners as they welcomed their leader upon return from self-exile
- The ex-PM says depriving the Palestinians of their right and giving it to someone else is wrong and Pakistan ‘will never accept it’
ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif, three-time former prime minister of Pakistan, on Saturday condemned the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza and vowed to stand by the Palestinians as he returned home from a self-imposed exile after four years.
Sharif landed in a chartered plane at the Islamabad airport where he signed and filed appeals against the convictions he was jailed for before he left the country in 2019.
Thousands of fervent supporters thronged a park in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, carrying party flags and cheering the 73-year-old as he took the stage.
Along with party banners, supporters of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party carried the Palestinian flags at the rally in solidarity with the besieged residents of Gaza.
“Please pray with me, may Allah help Palestine, may we all come together to help Palestinians, save them from cruelty,” he said, waving a Palestinian flag.
“The ongoing atrocities against them are against humanity. We condemn it in every way. Please repeat with me that we reject it in every manner.”
The former premier appealed to the world to uphold justice and help return the Palestinians their lands so that they could live in peace.
“Depriving them of their right and giving it to someone else is wrong and Pakistan will never accept it,” he said.
Pakistan does not recognize the state of Israel and supports an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Sharif’s address came as an Israeli military spokesman announced stepping up their punishing strikes on Gaza to mount pressure on Hamas, with top officers asking troops to be ready to enter the besieged Palestinian territory.
Since shock Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 that killed 1,400 people, Israel has launched devastating air and ground bombardments of Gaza. Hamas authorities say Israeli strikes have killed 4,385 people.
Prior to Sharif’s address, Khawaja Saad Rafique, a senior member of Sharif’s PML-N party, announced a resolution on behalf of the party that demanded an end to the “unjust and illegal Israeli occupation” of Palestine.
“Do you accept this resolution,” Rafique asked the crowd and the attendees responded with a resounding “yes.”
The resolution and Sharif’s announcement of support for Palestinians coincided with rallies in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
The participants urged the world to restrain Israel from further strikes on the besieged enclave and help save its residents.