Tens of thousands of Pakistanis demonstrated on Sunday to protest against the UAE and Israel officially announcing the normalization of relations, including the exchange of opening embassies.
Mass rallies spread across places in Pakistan, including the capital, Islamabad, the port city of Karachi, the northeastern Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Multan and Hyderabad.
Unacceptable agreement
The Milli Yakjhati Council, a religious political alliance, issued a call to the Pakistani people to go out in protest demonstrations, to denounce what it described as the controversial deal between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv.
In Rawalpindi, thousands of citizens organized an angry march through the city streets, led by Senator Siraj al-Haq, head of the Islamic Group, to protest the "unacceptable" agreement.
And the Islamic Group considered Sunday "Palestine Day" to express solidarity and support the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation.
The demonstrators gathered in Liaquat Park, carrying banners and slogans denouncing the agreement, such as "Down with Israel. An Emirati-Israeli deal under unacceptable American pressure, the Pakistanis stand with the Palestinians."
The head of the Islamic Group condemned the agreement between the UAE and Israel, stressing that Palestine is not only the issue of the Arabs, but the issue of the entire Islamic world.
No deal, no backtracking
"Palestine is the land of the Palestinians, and no deal or retreat can deprive them of their basic right," said Siraj al-Haq. He added, "The Palestinians have been fighting for their land for more than 70 years, but until August 13, no country has degraded itself as the Emirates did."
And he considered that "the entire Islamic world rejects this alleged deal, even if some Islamic governments agree." He urged Islamabad to try to hold an urgent meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to discuss the current situation.
In Karachi, hundreds gathered outside the press club to denounce the agreement. The head of the Islamic Group in Karachi, Hafez Naim al-Rahman, described the normalization agreement as "a major blow to the unity of Muslims and a stab on the Palestinians in the back."
"Neither the UAE nor any other country has the right to accept the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land in the name of peace," said Naim Al-Rahman.
The Islamic Group organized another protest in front of the Lahore Press Club, in which the Secretary General of the party Amir Al-Azim and other leaders spoke.
In Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa state, a large number of people gathered at the historic Mahabat Khan Mosque, and marched towards Yidgar Chowk, to record their protest.
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On Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced that the UAE and Israel had reached an agreement to normalize relations, describing it as "historic."
The announcement of the normalization agreement between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi comes as the culmination of a long series of cooperation, coordination, communication and exchange of visits between the two parties.
Thus, the UAE would be the third Arab country to sign a peace agreement with Israel, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
The agreement was met with widespread Palestinian condemnation from the leadership and prominent factions, such as Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad, while the Palestinian leadership considered it, through a statement it, "a betrayal by the Emirates of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa and the Palestinian cause."