Pakistani journalists observe World Press Freedom Day, express solidarity with Palestinians

By Islamuddin Sajid and Aamir Latif

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Journalists across Pakistan on Friday observed World Press Freedom Day to express solidarity with their Palestinian colleagues and pay homage to the journalists killed in the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Rallies and seminars were held in the capital Islamabad, commercial capital Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, and other cities by journalists and social organizations.

In Karachi, journalists sporting keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf) and carrying Palestinian flags gathered outside Karachi Press Club.

They were carrying banners and placards with slogans against the targeting of journalists in Gaza by the Israeli forces.

"Stop genocide of journalists in Palestine," read a banner.

Addressing the rally, A.H Khanzada, secretary-general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, accused the Israeli forces of deliberately targeting the journalists in a "failed attempt to hide their brutalities.”

He demanded that the media organizations to whom the slain journalists belonged move to the International Criminal Court against Israel.

Karachi Press Club Secretary Shoaib Ahmad observed that the slain Palestinian journalists are the ones who actually have upheld the flag of the freedom of the press.

In Islamabad, a gathering was held to commemorate the day with special tributes to the journalists killed in Gaza.

Politicians, journalists, and social activists, including former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, attended the ceremony.

In his remarks, the president of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists, Tariq Virk, said that Pakistani journalists stand alongside their Palestinian colleagues who have been showing the "true face" of Israel to the world.

At least 141 Palestinian journalists and media professionals have been killed and 70 others injured in Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.