ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s caretaker culture minister, Jamal Shah, on Friday dedicated an inaugural session of the country’s largest folk festival, ‘Lok Mela,’ to the people of Gaza, reiterating his government’s support for the Palestinians amid Israeli strikes.
Since Israel began pounding Gaza after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Pakistanis have frequently held rallies and demonstrations in the country to express solidarity with the besieged Palestinians, who have been facing food, water and medicine shortages for weeks.
On Friday, the inaugural session of the annual folk festival, which will run from Nov 3 till Nov 12, was held in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, during which a group of Palestinians also presented their traditional ‘Dabke Dance’ to enthrall the audience, including Palestinian Ambassador to Pakistan Ahmad Jawad Rabei.
Pakistani officials said the performances at the inaugural session were meant to honor the Palestinians for their struggle for the right to self-determination.
“This year we are sharing this platform with our Palestinian brothers and sisters because they are witnessing the worst possible times in their lives,” Shah said at the event.
Artists perform a special presentation to show solidarity with Gaza at the country's largest folk festival, Lok Mela, in Islamabad on November 3, 2023. (Photo courtesy: Facebook/Lok Virsa)
“They [Palestinians] are under siege, they are being killed day and night. It is very important for us to while telling our stories, exchanging our ideas while sharing our vitality, we also talk about the Palestinians, their struggles, their hardships, the nightmares, their hopes, their aspirations, and Insha’Allah their achievements, and gains tomorrow.”
Since the shock Hamas attacks, which Israeli officials say have killed 1,400 people, Israel has bombarded residential buildings, hospitals and ambulances in the besieged Gaza Strip.
More than 9,200 Palestinians have been killed so far in Gaza by the Israeli military campaign, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. On Saturday, an Israeli strike on a Gaza ambulance convoy killed 15 people, sparking condemnations by rights groups.
According to the United Nations (UN), more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is now sheltering in UN Palestinian refugee agency facilities, with inadequate water and food.
“We stand for as a government, as a people, as a nation, especially the message from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that till our last blood drops, we are with you [Palestinians],” KP Culture Minister Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel said at the inaugural session.
Pakistan's caretaker culture minister Jamal Shah visits stalls at the country's largest folk festival, Lok Mela, in Islamabad on November 3, 2023. (Photo courtesy: Facebook/Lok Virsa)
“The Palestinian cause, the Palestinian people, their culture, their heritage is, I think, the oldest culture at the moment. It is where humanity meets, it is where the civilization meets.”
He said the people of Pakistan were standing by their Palestinian brothers and sisters and soon the Palestinians would hold a festival like this “in the heart of Jerusalem, in the heart of Gaza.”
“It will be shown to the world that this Palestinian cause is there till the final solution is found,” Kakakhel said. “Our hearts are with the people of Palestine, with the children, with our mothers and sisters in Kashmir and Palestine and we are with you till a proper solution is found.”
Pakistanis attending the festival also denounced Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure in Gaza and expressed their solidarity for the besieged Palestinians.
Artists perform at the country's largest folk festival, Lok Mela, in Islamabad on November 3, 2023. (Photo courtesy: Facebook/Lok Virsa)
An artist performs a stunt at the country's largest folk festival, Lok Mela, in Islamabad on November 3, 2023. (Photo courtesy: Facebook/Lok Virsa)
