Subject: Statement of Pakistani Citizens Regarding the Palestinian People
Your Excellency,
As a representative group of Pakistan's concerned citizens, SABKA calls upon the international community; the United States and nations of Western Europe, especially France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, through the offices of the United Nations, the Security Council and the UNHCR, to play an active and constructive role in enacting justice for the Palestinian people.
In addition to the United Nations, we also urge the International Court of Justice, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to promptly reaffirm their commitment to upholding international law, human rights, and justice for the Palestinian people. This is especially crucial for those in the occupied Gaza and the West Bank who were recently referred to as 'animals' by the Israeli Defense Minister and are currently enduring unspeakable brutality, war crimes and the threat of extermination by Israel in a brazen exercise of collective punishment.
Pakistanis support the Palestinian right to self-determination and self-defense and demand the following:
WE DEMAND:
1. Ceasefire: The international community immediately negotiate a ceasefire in the region to prevent the massacre of innocent Palestinian civilians by the Israeli regime
2. Regulating Media: The international community refrain from legitimizing the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people living under brutal Israeli occupation by issuing balanced statements highlighting Israel's seven decades long flouting of international law, regulating and penalizing instances of pro-Israeli bias in the media.
3. Stopping Military Aid: Immediately stopping all kinds of financial and military aid and export of weapons to Israel.
4. United Nations Action: The United Nations, particularly the Security Council, must take immediate and effective action to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This includes the enforcement of relevant resolutions and the prevention of violence against Palestinian ians
5.Accountability: The UN must establish mechanisms to hold all parties accountable for violations of international law, including war crimes. This includes ensuring that investigations are conducted to address human rights abuses and bring those responsible to justice.
6. Protection of Civilians: The United Nations must prioritize the protection of Palestinian civilians, particularly in the Gaza Strip, ensure that they have access to essential services, humanitarian aid, and medical care, and that food, water, electricity and gas are provided and not cut off or restricted by Israel.
7. Mediation: The UN should actively engage in diplomatic efforts to facilitate a negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, based on internationally recognized parameters and principle and immediately halt the expansion of illegal settlements in Palestinian territories.
8. UNRWA Support: Western countries and international partners must provide increased support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to ensure the well-being and rights of Palestinian refugees.
9. Freedom of Expression: Democracies must uphold the principles of freedom of expression and assembly by reversing bans on peaceful protests and demonstrations in support of Palestinian rights. These actions are in direct contradiction to democratic values as are the media narratives that seek to suppress the voices of Palestinians in a clear exercise of spin and bias toward an apartheid regime.
10. Support of BDS: Democracies must rescind the legal bans on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and allow for peaceful advocacy in favor of Palestinian rights. The right to boycott is a form of nonviolent resistance and a protected freedom of expression.
11. Advocacy for a Free State of Palestine: Democratic states and their citizens must actively advocate for a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the establishment of an independent and sovereign State of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders, as mandated by the UN, and the two-state solution. There must be an immediate
ban on illegal settlements and a rollback of the expansion that has occurred over the past several years in contravention of international law.
12. Increased Diplomacy: The international community must intensify diplomatic efforts to promote a peaceful resolution to the conflict and work with international partners to facilitate negotiations between the parties.
13. Humanitarian Support: States must increase humanitarian support to Palestinian civilians affected by the conflict, including essential services, medical aid, and reconstruction efforts. We expect that your office will take urgent steps to bring an end to this humanitarian catastrophe and finally bring justice to the long-ignored plight of Palestine and the Palestinian people
Yours sincerely,
SABKA
We are committed to amplifying the voices of the citizens of Pakistan.
Signed by SABKA Team Members:
Shahid Abdulla
Nazim Haji
Samar Ali Khan
Fahim I. Siddiqui
Dr Masood Sheikh
Rabia Nizami
Arshad Anis
Shahab Ghani Khan
Shimaila M. Dawood
Endorsed by:
K. Wali Nizami, Haamid Jaffer, Tasnim A. Jaffer, Naseem Allawala, Kubra Sheikh, Dr. Ishaque Soomro, Naseem Akhtar, Najma Sultana Rajput, Choudhary Naseer Rajput, Muhammad Qamar ul Zaman Khan, Bushra Naseer, Bushra Afzal, Tipu Sharif, Yazdani Syed, Barrister Mahreen Khan, Mahvash Siddiqi, Dr Azmat Khan, Amna Majid, Sara Jamil, Sana Sharifuddin Pirzada, Farah Naz Haider Shaikh, Aftab Saad Sohail, Fatima Haider, Shehrbano Shuja, Zahra Saeed, Kamila Habib, Professor Shahjahan Katpar, Zoya Ansari, Moneeza Butt, Nazim Haji, Ameera Diwan, Ayaz Abdulla, Dr Moizuddin, Dr Salamat Kamal, Ms Safa Ishaque, Jasira Tameezuddin, Mariam Tameezuddin,
Bilal Ahmed, Farnaz Tameezuddin, Muhummad Tameezuddin, Aimen Tameezuddin, Rabia Zia, Zaitoon Khalid, Numera Khoso, Maryam Amanullah, Ameera Rizwan, Gul Zaree, Mariam Riaz, Amna Azizullah, Afreen Mehmood, Ayesha Muhammad, Faryal Wahab, Nadia Kashif, Mashalle Kashif, Nazeefa Zafar, Ayesha shahzad, Fatima Ahmad, Uzma Kashif, Kiran Naz, Areeba Imran, Rabia Kamal, Rehmah Tahir, Muneeza Tahir, Ramsha Kausar, Ruqyya safdar, Ayesha Anwar,
Farhana Jawad, Humera Khan, Yasmeen Abdul Ghaffar, Ayesha Amanullah, Rukhsana Diwan, Nimra Khan, Tayyiba Saeed, Ariba Masood, Madiha Khurram, Shaheera Nadeem, Fatimah Nadeem, Mahibah Nadeem, Naheed Hussain, Hareem Zahid, Fatima Zahra, Maryum Patel, Fatima
Umer, Ume Kulsoom, Asima Hayat, Sufia Agha, Memoona Noreen, Samia Iltifat, Muhammed Ibrahim, Zaibunnisa Iltifat, Juveria Iltifat, Jovaria Bilal, Momina Adnan, Sadaf Ali, Maheen khoso,
Sana Gohar, Nasreen Shabbir, Mariam Ahmed, Madina Samad, Tehniat Aftab, Zehrah Saad, Tayyaba Adnan, Iffat Navaid, Dania Mubashir, Munazzah Saleem, Erum Bakhshy, Ayesha Siddiqui, M Sayeed Khan, Dr Tipu Sultan, Mr Abdulla Feroz, Dr Kishwar Enam, Mr Abdullah Feroz, Nargis Soorty, Arshmah Siddiqui, Zubieda Malik, Sana Riaz, Summayya Hanif, Sajida Hassan, Aamina Zeeshan, Seema Aman, Yusra Rashid, Naila Hashim, Mehr Taj, Nashwa Rahim, Farheen Sajjad, Jannat Anjum, Ayesha Rehman, Sualeha Qureshi, Bilal Chhotani, Hasan Afridi, Jawed ul Haq Siddiqui, Parvez ul Haq Siddiqui, Munir Hasan, SM Minhajuddin, Saif ur Rehman, Arif Zaidi, Khayam Husain, Shabbir Hussain Dhanji, Aizad Naveed, Abbas Saeed, Dr Tariq Hassan, Zahra Vayani, Fayyaz Siddiqui, Mrs Zeenat Sayeed, Khalid Kazi, Meraj Hasanie, Javed Zaid, Dr. GN Qureshi,
Anam Diwan, Mehak Khalid, Faiza Salam, Muhammad Saad, Sauleha Habib, Maheen Zahid, Faiza Furqan, Zehra Shahzaib, Ayesha Mazhar, Madiha Usman, Maria Arshad, Jasera Adil, Nafisa Hayat, Aisha Tanwir, Zainab Furqan, Sheema Amir, Samia Riaz, Dr Shehzad Ali, KIran Zuberi, Sikander Hayat Khan, Nadeem Khalid, Yameen Qureshi, Raheel Ahmed, Vajiha Khan, Nishat Kazmi, Maleka Majeed, Rafiul Huq, Zia Hameed, Mujahid Sadiq, Silwat Afzal, Mohammed Saquib, Sarosh Yousufi, Omeir Ansari, Farhan ul Karim, Lubna Naqvi, Imran Sulaiman, Arif Belgaumi, Dr. M. Afzal Rizvi, Salman Qureshi, Noor Afzal, Dr. Asma Sartaj, Sartaj Qasim, Iqbal Molvi, Ehtisham Siddiqui, Oofi Khan, Abdul Wahab, Anis Bilal, Cyma Alavi, Tafseer Ahmed, Dr. Sarosh Hashmat Lodi, Minhaj Ali Khan, Shehzad Azeem, Rabia Hasan, Sabeen Kashif, Rumela Barma, Ahmed Samiuddin Rabbani,
Sajid Dadabhoy, Zeeshan Ahmed, Sabira Khan, Maria Qureshi, Akeel Bilgrami, Haleem Khan
Mandokhail, Javed Kamal, Shahid Sayeed Khan, Naushaba Khalil, Farida Kalim, Hasnain Lotia, Qasim Rizvi, Mahboob Khan, Mohammad Abbas Sajid, Jaffer Habib, Raana Shamim Zafar, Zia Akhter, Kalim Farooqi, Muzna Ali, Qudsia Akber, Rafat Hasan, Faisal Hanif, Adeel Jawaid, Capt. Mujahid Karim Khan, Qaiser Jafri, Naim Farooqui, Nighat Naveed, Kishwar Khan, Tanvir Iftikhar, Haroon Rauf, Majid Hasan, Roland deSouza, Arif Hasan, Zeenat Khairi, Shamim Zafar, Sarwat Hasan, Faiz Kidwai, Anas Mastoor, Tauseef Bai, Khoula Siddiqui, Fouzia Dareshani, Asif Naqvi, Akeel Bilgrami, Khawaja Naseem Hussain, Mushtaq Chhapra, Tariq Gillani, Mariam Jehanzeb, Ayesha Afridi, Raza Bokharee, Aurangzeb Afridi, Sukainah Agarwal, Hassan Afridi, Sakinah Reza, Zeanab Raza, Harris Bhutto, Sheharyar Zeeshan, Farwa Bokharee, Farheen khan, Aziza Irfan, Durrain Qasim, Dr. Shehla Dareshani, Tahira Haque, Ehtisham ul Haque, Sara Haris, Nighat Mazhar, Syed Mohammad Ali, Nadia Makhdumi, Yasmeen Raza, Amina Latif, Syed Ahzam Ahmed, Nadeem Mirza, Zia Paracha, Khalid Rabbani, Asifuddin Qureshi, Romana Khan, Farida Tariq Nishtar, Fahad Abdullah.
Copy to:
Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan Caretaker Foreign Minister of Pakistan
UN Secretary Council International Court of Justice UN Commission on Human Rights Organization of Islamic Cooperation
Arab League
Fahim I. Siddiqui graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from NED Engineering University, Karachi in 1974 and he started his career in M/s International Consultants and was accepted as a partner in the firm in 1978, and he continued with this association till 1987.
In 1987, he founded M/s Fahim, Nanji & deSouza Private Limited (FND), a Consulting Engineering firm, now recognized as one of the leading firms in Mechanical-Electrical sector in Building Technologies in Pakistan, with a staff of over 120 personnel and is currently its CEO/ Principal Mechanical Consultant.
He was a Founder Member of Pakistan HVACR Society and was elected President of the Society in which position he served from 2001-2003.
He played a pivotal role in the establishment of ASHRAE Pakistan Chapter and was elected as President from 2005~2006 and was awarded ASHRAE Presidential Award of Excellence in 2003.
He was elevated to the position of Fellow of Institute of Engineers, Pakistan in 2008. He is a Registered Consulting Engineer, Pakistan Engineering Council; Member National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA); Member American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
He has been collecting cactus & succulent plants for the past 45 years, and his collection of these plants is recognized as the best in Pakistan. He founded the Cactus & Succulent Society of Pakistan and was elected as its first President, and subsequently elevated to the position of Life Chairman.
He is an active member of the Horticultural Society of Pakistan (HSP) and was elected to the position of Chairman of HSP from 2009 to 2013 and from 2019 to2023.
He is also a Member of the Quaid-e-Azam Mazar Management Board since April 2019.
Shahid Abdulla co-founded the esteemed architectural firm Arshad Shahid Abdulla, (Pvt) Ltd, in partnership with his elder brother in 1979. After obtaining his degree from the University of Illinois in Chicago, Shahid embarked on his professional journey in Pakistan in 1975, and now has a remarkable career spanning thirty-seven years and his architectural prowess and innovative spirit have earned him well-deserved recognition.
Shahid’s unwavering dedication to responsible social change has led to the establishment and active involvement in esteemed organizations such as The Citizens Foundation, Kidney Center, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture and has active participation in non-profit organizations like The Hunar Foundation, The Citizens Foundation, and the Karachi Relief Trust.
Shahid Abdulla’s architectural and humanitarian contributions have garnered prestigious accolades, including the Sitara-e-Imtiaz and the Presidential Pride of Performance. His exceptional dedication to the Pakistan Pavilion at Expo2020 in Dubai resulted in its recognition as the 2nd best Pavilion, a testament to his unwavering pursuit of excellence.