Pakistan’s first Free Palestine protest camp at Quaid-e-Azam University

On Wednesday, Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU), Pakistan’s top-ranking university located in the capital city of Islamabad, witnessed the beginning of the country’s first Free Palestine peace camp.

Muslim Network TV Desk

Organized by the student body, this peace camp became the first one to be organized across the country.

Located adjacent to the Central Library, the encampment serves as a focal point for students to voice their support for Palestine through various means, including painting charts, raising placards adorned with powerful slogans for ceasefire, and playing Palestinian music to invigorate the participants.

Dawood, a student of International Relations, serving as the chief organizer, articulated the purpose behind the encampment, the demands put forth by the participating students, and the future trajectory.

According to Dawood, the encampment at QAU is part of a broader international wave of support for Palestine, inspired by institutions such as Columbia University, as well as South Asian universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University in India and Dhaka University in Bangladesh.

Central to their demands is a call for diplomatic and political support from the Pakistani government for the people of Palestine, including the establishment of an aid corridor to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Additionally, students are urging Pakistan to join global condemnations of Israel’s actions at forums such as the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), as well as to participate more actively in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

They are also demanding that the government of Pakistan offer more scholarships to Palestinian students. Additionally, they are also urging the university to organize teach-ins on Palestinian history and politics, to counter Zionist propaganda efficiently.

To broaden their impact, the organizers are reaching out to former students, university alumni, and students from other institutions, aiming to rally as much support as possible for Palestine.

One of the students present at the encampment, Omar, said, “We demand that the universities in the US stop penalizing their students for free speech. We stand in complete solidarity with students at Columbia and elsewhere, who face bullying and harassment for their criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”

“We reject any prospect of Pakistan recognizing the state of Israel until it ends occupation, apartheid, and genocide of Palestinian people”, said Sakeena, the head of media team at the encampment.

Dawood explained that they have formed distinct student teams to ensure the camp’s success and to pressure the government into meeting their demands.

According to the organizers, the conscientious students in the encampment aim to stand on the right side of history, as many powerful nations turn their backs on the Palestinians.

The encampment comes a few weeks after the German ambassador to Pakistan faced heckling by Pakistani students during a human-rights conference in Lahore for Germany’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. The students called out the German ambassador’s alleged hypocrisy for speaking at a human rights forum while Germany stifles criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza.