Hardline groups in Pakistan protest against Trump's Jerusalem plan
Protests in Pakistan
Protesters belonging to Majlis Wahdat ul Muslimeen, a hardline Islamist group, torched the US and Israeli flags in front of the US Consulate in Karachi
Just days after PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi condemned President Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, Pakistan's hardline political outfits took to the streets to protest against Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Protesters belonging to Majlis Wahdat ul Muslimeen(MWM), a hardline Islamist group, torched the US and Israeli flags in front of the US Consulate in Karachi.
Several hundred Difa-e-Pakistan Council protesters, an umbrella organization of hardline political organization took to the streets in Karachi chanting "Death to America" holding anti-US banners.
Last week, Jammat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed in his first public speech in Chauburji near Lahore had slammed the US move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital saying: "Any Muslim country if opens its consulate in Jerusalem should be barred from opening their embassies in the Muslim countries."
The Jammat chief urged the Pakistan government to convene a session of joint parliament to discuss the Jerusalem issue.
On Thursday, PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said he deeply regretted that pleas from states across the globe not to alter the "legal and historical status" of Al Quds Al Sharif have been ignored after President Trump announced the US administration was changing Jerusalem's status and moving its embassy to the holy site which Palestinians also claim is their home.
Trump had said the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital was "long overdue" even as NATO allies Britain and France called Trump's decision "unhelpful" and "regrettable".