New Delhi,
Hundreds of schoolchildren under the banner of ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ and the Global March Against Child Labour today joined a protest march against the killing of innocent children, women and old persons by Israel in Palestine and Lebanon.
Sporting banners “Children for peace and peace for children” along with social activists and people from various walks of life, schoolchildren gathered for a peace march from ‘Samta Sthal’ to ‘Raj Ghat’. They demanded immediate and complete ceasefire in Lebanon and stop the genocide in Palestine.
“No one can claim to be good Jew, Hindu, Muslim or Christian by killing kids, crippling them or making them orphans. The international community must take it as an act of urgency to immediately stop the killings in Lebanon, Palestine and Israel,” said Mr Kailash Satyarthi, chairperson, Global March against Child Labour.
In another protest march, scores of people, including foreigners, marched to the Israel Embassy demanding immediate stoppage of the offensive.
Raising slogans against Israel and the US, the demonstrators, including students, theatre activists, artists and members of different citizen groups, also sought a more active role by India to stop the bombings.
“This is nothing but genocide. Innocent civilians are being killed. The children of Palestine and Lebanon are not terrorists. This is a war against humanity which must be stopped immediately,” said Abha, a member of Jagori, an NGO.
Seeking a more active role by India, she said the government must use the platform of SAARC nations to pressurise Israel to end the attacks.
During the past one month, over 900 civilians have been killed by Israel and thousands have been injured besides over a million people turned homeless. One third of these killed civilians are innocent children.
“Thousands of children have been denied security, health care, education and are being traumatised. The images of these children appearing on our TV screens are nothing but a shame on the face of human civilisation,” said Mr Alok Vajpeyi, director, ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’.
Karamat Ali, a Pakistani citizen who is on a personal visit to India, said “People in South Asia are looking to India, which in the past had taken strong stands in international affairs, to play a major role in ending the conflict.” A protestor from the US said, “What is going on is nothing but destroying a nation and it is an irony that US President George Bush who preached building nations during his election campaign is supporting such an inhuman attack.”
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