KARACHI: Hundreds of Pakistani students and civil society activists on Wednesday rallied in the southern port city of Karachi to mark 76 years of Palestinians displaced from their homeland, calling for an end to the “genocide” in Gaza as Israel escalates military tensions in the Middle East. 

Palestinians refer to May 15 as the “Nakba,” Arabic for “catastrophe” when some 700,000 Palestinians in 1948 fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment.

Protest rallies in several parts of the world were held on Wednesday amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, where the Israeli military has killed at least 35,173 people and injured 79,061 others since October 7, 2023. 

Nearly a dozen civil and women’s rights organizations took part in the protest rally which began at Do Talwar roundabout in Karachi till Teen Talwar, another important landmark of the city. 

“The civil society of Karachi is marking Nakba Day today and the purpose for that is to identify that Palestinians were the actual residents or the actual people who can lay claim to the land that Israel lays claim to at this point in time,” Ahmed Shabbar, one the organizers, told Arab News. 

He called on students from other parts of the country to join the protest campaign for Gaza. 

“There are multiple layers to this campaign and we invite the civil societies of Lahore and Islamabad and Quetta and students across Pakistan as well to unite because this is just the first event,” Shabbar said. He vowed that more protests would be held in the coming days.

Shabbar said the foremost demand of the protesters was for an immediate ceasefire in Palestine and for Israel to be held accountable for its actions. 

He said Pakistan’s civil societies’ demands also include that Pakistan join South Africa in the International Court of Justice to hold Israel and its supporters accountable for its crimes in Gaza. 

Shabbar said protesters were also seeking an apology from the German ambassador to Pakistan, who had shouted at a Pakistani student for interrupting him during his speech at a conference last month. The pro-Palestinian supporter had questioned the ambassador for Germany’s support for Israel’s controversial actions in Gaza. 

He said the civil societies were also calling for a boycott of Israeli products or those brands that support Israel’s actions in Gaza. 

Mehnaz Rehman, a leader of the Aurat Foundation rights movement, said protesters had gathered to protest against Israel’s atrocities, particularly against women and children.

“They are killing children,” Rehman told Arab News. “They [people] should come forward and protest against Israel and demand a ceasefire. We demand ceasefire immediately,” she said, praising American students for raising their voices for Palestine. 

Naureen Fatima, a protester, said Palestinians were driven out of their land over seven decades ago. She lamented that history was repeating itself. 

“This is happening once again,” Fatima told Arab News. You know? And we see it’s happening under the backdrop of our complete genocide. This is happening in the year 2024.”

She criticized the international community for staying silent over Israel’s massacres in Gaza. 

“Has mankind regressed? We think we have completely regressed,” she lamented. 

“What is the point when we see that babies are being killed and they are dying? And there is no accountability, and this genocide continues. 

“We are here to protest that. We are here because we don’t want this to happen.”

Separately, hundreds of students and teachers rallied at Karachi University to protest Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and support American students protesting across Europe and the US
 

RIYADH: The Arab Forum of Anti-Corruption Agencies and Financial Intelligence Units began on Wednesday in Riyadh, hosted by Saudi Arabia’s Presidency of State Security, and discussed targeting illicit financial networks.   

Focusing on institutional frameworks and joint coordination between multiple parties, the discussion included global speakers: Jawhar Nfissi, president, National Financial Intelligence Authority in Morocco; Daniel Glaser, global head of jurisdictional services at K2 Integrity and head of its Washington, D.C. office; Elzbieta Frankow-Jaskiewicz, interim chair, Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units; Suliman Aljabrin, executive secretary, Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force, Bahrain; Khadija Ali, head of the Financial Investigation Unit, Republic of Comoros; Mohamed Allal Al-Kahil, head of the Financial Prohibition Unit, Islamic Republic of Mauritania.  

The discussion, addressing anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, is at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s endeavors to uphold the rule of law, promote fair competition between companies, and achieve security and prosperity for all.   

The session provided discussions on reform paths for various local entities taking action to harmonize their legal frameworks with the requirements set by the Kingdom’s Anti-Money Laundering Permanent Committee to advance its broader national reform agenda.  

Elzbieta Frankow-Jaskiewicz, interim chair, Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, talked about the firm’s efforts in fighting illicit financial networks.

“Many agencies use our technologies from private sectors and we work with our counterparts in Interpol, WCO, World Bank and G20,” Frankow-Jaskiewicz said during the panel discussion.   

Egmont Group is important to the global CFT (Combating the Financing of Terrorism) regime in many aspects, such as in international information-sharing and in their secured channels for exchanging information.   

“Using typologies that we developed over the course of these three years, we raise the operational effectiveness values; we enhance our FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) capabilities in Egmont center and memberships,” she said. 

Since its founding, Egmont has assisted more than 190 jurisdictions by constructing a new learning platform and providing technical support for FIU. With nearly 7,000 registered users and 2011 courses already developed and launched, Khadija Ali, head, Financial Investigation Unit, Republic of Comoros, talked about the regulation measures the country has in place when receiving a report.

“We have to ask for information in order to obtain the suspicious transaction file as soon as the financial institutions submit it to us. Additionally, if required, it is a report to the prosecution. In order to effectively combat this, we also work and interact with individuals who are affected by it, including banks, attorneys, notaries, jewelers, anti-corruption advocates and other subject persons,” she said. 

“Not only must the government enact a new anti-corruption law, but it must also hire modern experts, the law against money laundering. This reveals the Comorian government’s dedication to fighting financial crime, and I would like to use this chance to praise this successful dedication. We have a system in place to fight money laundering and the funding of terrorism, which is implemented at the national level by a number of players, in line with the Comoros strategy,” she said.    

Suliman Aljabrin, executive secretary of the MENA financial action taskforce in Bahrain, said during the session that the banking industry was developing well.

“The banking industry in the Arab world is quite developed, though not in terms of the private sector or the organization that oversees, monitors and supervises it. This indicates that there is a compromise to be struck between the need to prevent money laundering and the funding of terrorists and maintaining financial confidentiality, which is the standard. It will serve as the first entry-point for the official system to be introduced and the money to be laundered,” he said. 

The challenge, according to K2 Integrity’s Daniel Glaser, has been how to take rules and regulations and make them effective for everyone, from the smallest countries to the US.   

“Not that they don’t have the framework, but how do you get the framework to be implemented? And that requires so many different things. It requires political will. It requires investment of resources, sometimes more than countries are willing to invest,” he said.

The head of Morocco’s national financial intelligence body, Jawhar Nfissi, said that creating a national institutional structure and making a firm political commitment were essential. Also, monitoring the reports was vital, as according to statistics, there has been a 200 percent increase in suspicion indicators in Morocco during the past five years.  

In light of international treaties, Mohamed Allal Al-Kahil, head of the Financial Prohibition Unit, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, emphasized the need for legislation to combat bribery and corruption, noting that current legislation falls short of the Financial Action Task Force’s recommendations.