ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, parliamentarians and hundreds of thousands of people offered funeral prayers in absentia on Friday for slain Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, condemning Israeli military actions in Palestinian territories.
Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed in a pre-dawn bombing at their accommodation in Tehran on Wednesday. Just hours before his assassination, Israel had struck a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr, the military commander of Hezbollah, the Hamas-allied Lebanese militant group, deepening concerns of a wider regional escalation.
Haniyeh’s death was the key topic at mosques during Friday sermons. Some clerics lashed out at leaders of the Muslim ummah for their weak stance on the Palestinian cause. Several vowed to avenge Haniyeh’s killing.
PM Sharif and other legislators offered funeral prayers for Haniyeh at a mosque in Parliament House. It was aired live by state television. “An incident of the worst brutality has come to the fore which the entire world, including Pakistan, Turkiye, Malaysia, China and Russia, has condemned in the strongest words,” Sharif said on Haniyeh’s assassination.
Separately, hundreds of people offered funeral prayers in absentia for the Hamas leader at Islamabad’s iconic Faisal Mosque and other parts of the country.
Earlier, Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution expressing “unified grief and anger” over Haniyeh’s assassination. It was a rare moment in the Lower House of Parliament where the opposition, headed by jailed ex-PM Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), supported the govt.
“Haniyeh’s killing in Tehran has added to the angst and grief, and such incidents are seen as deliberate conspiracies to sabotage efforts to stop the ongoing oppression and brutality against Palestinians and to establish peace in the region,” the resolution stated.
“This House strongly condemns the ongoing state oppression and brutality by Israel in Palestine as a tragedy for the Muslim ummah and the world,” read the NA resolution, which called on the international community to take “collective action” to halt Israel’s oppression and deliver justice to the Palestinian people.
Pakistan maintains its non-recognition of Israel and advocates for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with its capital in Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) based on the borders that existed before 1967. “This House calls for the immediate admission of the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations,” the resolution added.
Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed in a pre-dawn bombing at their accommodation in Tehran on Wednesday. Just hours before his assassination, Israel had struck a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr, the military commander of Hezbollah, the Hamas-allied Lebanese militant group, deepening concerns of a wider regional escalation.
Haniyeh’s death was the key topic at mosques during Friday sermons. Some clerics lashed out at leaders of the Muslim ummah for their weak stance on the Palestinian cause. Several vowed to avenge Haniyeh’s killing.
PM Sharif and other legislators offered funeral prayers for Haniyeh at a mosque in Parliament House. It was aired live by state television. “An incident of the worst brutality has come to the fore which the entire world, including Pakistan, Turkiye, Malaysia, China and Russia, has condemned in the strongest words,” Sharif said on Haniyeh’s assassination.
Separately, hundreds of people offered funeral prayers in absentia for the Hamas leader at Islamabad’s iconic Faisal Mosque and other parts of the country.
Earlier, Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution expressing “unified grief and anger” over Haniyeh’s assassination. It was a rare moment in the Lower House of Parliament where the opposition, headed by jailed ex-PM Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), supported the govt.
“Haniyeh’s killing in Tehran has added to the angst and grief, and such incidents are seen as deliberate conspiracies to sabotage efforts to stop the ongoing oppression and brutality against Palestinians and to establish peace in the region,” the resolution stated.
“This House strongly condemns the ongoing state oppression and brutality by Israel in Palestine as a tragedy for the Muslim ummah and the world,” read the NA resolution, which called on the international community to take “collective action” to halt Israel’s oppression and deliver justice to the Palestinian people.
Pakistan maintains its non-recognition of Israel and advocates for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with its capital in Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) based on the borders that existed before 1967. “This House calls for the immediate admission of the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations,” the resolution added.