Home Latest News Israel Stall at Mock U.N. Causes Outrage in Islamabad

Israel Stall at Mock U.N. Causes Outrage in Islamabad

by AFP
Jamaat-e-Islami activist burn Israeli flags during a pro-Palestine demonstration in Karachi, August 2014. Rizwan Tabassum—AFP

Jamaat-e-Islami activist burn Israeli flags during a pro-Palestine demonstration in Karachi, August 2014. Rizwan Tabassum—AFP

IIUI suspends three staff members after IJT students forcibly dismantle controversial stall.

The International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) has suspended three staff after students created a stall to showcase Israeli customs and traditions as part of a mock U.N. debating contest, officials said Monday.

Students set up the stall, which featured Israeli flags and pictures of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as part of their “model U.N.” exercise at the weekend. The display, which also included a banner saying “Welcome to the land of peace and prosperity,” triggered a furious response from rightwing student groups who smashed its contents.

Pakistan and Israel have no diplomatic relations and the Jewish state is widely disliked in the conservative Islamic republic. The university said the dean of the faculty of management sciences, a student affairs adviser, and a female lecturer had all been suspended over the incident.

An IIUI spokesman said the university “strongly condemns” the hosting of the Israel stall and stressed that “a number of resolutions were passed against the Israeli brutalities in Palestine” at the mock U.N. event.

A female student said the stalls were intended to showcase the religion and culture of various countries alongside a mock U.N. debate about the situation in Middle East. “Students were coming to our [Israeli] stall, they were talking to us, discussing the cultural things that were on display,” the student told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Everything was normal until students of the female wing of IJT came to our stall and accused us of supporting Zionism.”

IJT, the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, is a conservative student organization allied with the Jamaat-e-Islami, one of Pakistan’s leading religious political parties. “They attacked the Israel stall and smashed everything, everybody was running out of the hall, it was so scary,” the student said.

The university administration immediately cancelled the event and formed a three-member committee to investigate the incident.

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6 comments

Osama Ahmad October 27, 2014 - 6:56 pm

Islamic Republic of ‘Tolaristan’
where everything is in excess except Islam

Reply
Muftee October 27, 2014 - 6:57 pm

Alternative Headline:
“Students who are supposed to be literate fail to understand the concept of UN”

Reply
azhar October 28, 2014 - 1:39 am

its shocking that why this stall was set… when most of Pakistanis are very agrresive on israel…

Reply
kamran Khan October 28, 2014 - 12:57 pm

Did you spit when you wrote the words Israel, if not then you will go to hell.

Reply
mulla October 29, 2014 - 7:21 pm

And Finally ……… Israel will be crushed by making the classes of uni off……..

Reply
XYZ October 31, 2014 - 1:02 pm

What the f*** why the f***? Pakistan 0 Jahalat 1

Reply

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