08 December 2017•Update: 08 December 2017
By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
Security around American consulates has been beefed up as thousands of protesters take to the streets across Pakistan against the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The rallies and demonstrations were organized by the country’s two mainstream religious parties -- Jamat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema Islam in capital Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad, Gujranwala and other districts.
Effigies of U.S. President Donald Trump, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were set on fire by angry protesters at some of the rallies in a sign of protest.
Carrying Palestinian flags and banners plastered with pictures of Aqsa Mosque and Bait-ul-Maqdis, the protesters were chanting slogans such as “Down with Israel”, “Down with America”, “No to U.S. decision” and “Jerusalem belongs to us”.
Jamat-e-Islami’s activists and members of several trade associations gathered at Abpara chowk in Islamabad.
Addressing the protesters, the Jamat-e-Islami leaders noted that the U.S. move was tantamount to putting the world’s peace on knife’s edge as not only the Muslims but every impartial human being would not accept this decision.
The speakers applauded the stance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has declared Jerusalem “red line” for the Muslims.
Hundreds of lawyers from Islamabad and adjoining garrison city of Rawalpindi held a protest demonstration at the capital’s judicial complex.
Widespread opposition
In Peshawar, thousands of people marched from historical Mahabat Khan Mosque to Chowk Yadgar.
Students belonging to Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT), the country’s largest student organization, held a protest demonstration near the U.S. Consulate Lahore as police set up barricades to prevent them from proceeding towards the consulate.
In Karachi, Jamat-e-Islami, JUI and Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimin, a coalition of several Shia parties, and civil society members also held separate demonstrations and rallies.
Despite widespread international opposition, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
According to Trump, the U.S. State Department has been told to begin preparations for relocating the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The dramatic shift in Washington’s Jerusalem policy triggered demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and other Muslim countries.
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- now occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
* Islamuddin Sajid in Islamabad contributed to this story.
