Above photo: Million march in Karachi to mark one year since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Naeem ur Rehman / X.
On Anniversary Of Genocide In Gaza.
Left and progressive forces in the region continue to express solidarity with Palestinian resistance movements in defiance of their governments who have tried to suppress the voices of solidarity.
Thousands of people participated in rallies and protest gatherings all across the South Asia region as part of international calls for mobilization to commemorate a year of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, express solidarity with the Palestinian people, and to raise the demand for an immediate ceasefire.
Protesters carried Palestinian flags, banners condemning the genocide, and chanted slogans in support of the Palestinian resistance. A large number of young university students joined the protests as well, defying various restrictions imposed by their respective governments on the display of such solidarity with Palestinians.
On October 7, 2023, Israel launched a massive genocidal war on Gaza following the execution of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by the Palestinian resistance movement. In the last 12 months, according to the Ministry of Health statistics, Israel has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and completely destroyed the infrastructure and life in the besieged territory by bombing it indiscriminately. The war has now expanded into Lebanon and the occupied West Bank as well where thousands more have been killed.
India
Addressing a rally in India’s capital New Delhi, Prakash Karat, the national coordinator of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for Israel to be held accountable for committing genocide and war crimes.
The rally was jointly called by over two dozen progressive and anti-imperialist groups along with the left parties.
Left parties in India including CPI (M), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, and others had given a nationwide call for protest in solidarity with Palestine and against the Indian government’s pro-Israeli policies on October 7. Protests were held in several Indian states such as Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal among others.
In his speech in Delhi, Karat criticized the Indian government for failing to take a firm stand against the Israeli war. He emphasized that India is supplying weapons to Israel and in a way directly responsible for the genocide of Palestinians. He demanded the Indian government to stop betraying India’s legacy of anti-colonialism and pro-Palestinian stance.
Karat called it shameful that India abstained on the resolution demanding Israel withdraw its illegal occupation of Palestinian land within a time bound manner.
The UN General Assembly had adopted the resolution on September 18 with 124 votes in favor and 24 votes against demanding Israel to end its unlawful presence and policies from the occupied Palestinian territories within a year. India was among the 43 countries which abstained.
India’s ultra-right government led by Narendra Modi of the Hindu-supremacist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has largely maintained a pro-Israel orientation in its policies. It has tried to suppress the voices of Palestinian solidarity in the last one year by booking people for publicly carrying the symbols of Palestinian resistance and detaining pro-palestinian protesters. In July this year, governments in several Indian states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh arrested several individuals for waving Palestinian flags or even expressing support for Palestine online. Such arrests defy logic as India is one of the countries which recognizes Palestine officially.
India’s civil society and the left parties have alleged that the Indian government is also supplying weapons to Israel. In June, Al Jazeera published an exclusive report citing documents as evidence of Indian weapon exports to Israel.
Declaring complete solidarity with the Palestinian people, D Raja, general secretary of Communist Party of India (CPI) underlined that Israel’s refusal to listen to international voices and its complete defiance of UN resolutions demanding a ceasefire is a sign of its being a rogue state unfit to be the member of the international community.
Both Raja and Karat, among other speakers, criticized the role of the US which has supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel to carry out massacres of Palestinian and Lebanese people.
Pakistan
Several massive rallies were organized at Shaera Faisal and Teen Talwar in Karachi, Pakistan on Sunday and Monday in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. The protest calls were given by several political parties as well as progressive and left movements such as Aurat March, Progressive Students Collective, among others.
The rally at Shaera Faisal was attended by different political parties in Pakistan including Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). The speakers in the rally condemned Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, calling its indiscriminate attacks on civilians criminal.
Some speakers also highlighted how there is a competition among the presidential candidates in the US to show who supports the Israelis more. This makes it clear that Israel’s war in Gaza has full American support, they claimed. The speakers highlighted the need for a united front against the Zionist state.
In the rally, speakers asserted that even the UN charter gives the oppressed people the right to take up arms against their oppressors and therefore Palestinian struggle against the illegal occupation of Israel is legitimate.