A majority of Pakistanis reject the proposed 20-point Gaza plan, calling it a new name for occupation
Shehbaz Sharif is trying to ‘please Washington’ and ‘bury Pakistan’s long-standing stance on Palestine’ as well as ‘legitimize Israel in just one tweet’
Staff Reporters, Correspondents,Daily Dawn, Dawn TV Report
Islamabad/Lahore/Karachi: Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir are facing severe criticism for their enthusiastic welcome of US President Donald Trump’s proposed 20-point Gaza peace plan, with many critics calling the proposed plan tantamount to covering up Israel’s genocide.
In his post on X, Shehbaz Sharif said that he is convinced that a lasting peace between the Palestinian people and Israel is essential for political stability and economic development in the region.
He praised Trump’s ‘leadership’ and the ‘efforts’ of envoy Steve Witkoff, who has tried to end the nearly 2-year-long Gaza war. Shehbaz Sharif added that a two-state solution is ‘inevitable for lasting peace in the region’.
However, the Pakistani people are not ready to accept this position.
Within hours, a storm of public anger erupted on X, with angry users accusing Shehbaz Sharif of trying to ‘please Washington’ and ‘bury Pakistan’s long-standing position on Palestine’ as well as ‘legitimizing Israel in just one tweet’.
One user raised the question, “We Pakistanis cannot decide what the Palestinian people want; how can Gaza be disarmed when 70,000 civilians have been killed while Israel maintains a security fence?”
Another reminded that “we have a responsibility to the Palestinian people, not just because we share the same religion but because we oppose colonial oppression.” He said that if Pakistan supports Trump’s plan, it would mean it stands with “genocide and a settler state.”
Another user stressed that “neither the occupying powers nor foreign powers have the right to determine the future of Palestine, Palestine needs freedom, justice and an end to apartheid, not hollow plans.”
Many argued that the 20-point plan was not beneficial to the Palestinians but to Israel and Trump, as it would be overseen by an international ‘Peace Board’ headed by Trump, until the Palestinian Authority is deemed capable of handing over control of Gaza after ‘reform’. According to the plan, Hamas would ‘have no role in the government and Gaza would be completely demilitarized.’
Actress Sakina Samoun wrote in the comments ‘Under Trump’s leadership? Absolutely not! This plan is completely unjust’, while other users called it ‘the new name for occupation’.
One user described it as an ‘open expression of American power’, while another called it ‘a trap’.
Some called it ‘an open reflection of American power’, while others called it ‘a trap’. Many people considered the ninth point to be the summary of the entire plan, according to which Gaza would be run by a ‘Peace Board’.
For many, support for Trump’s plan appears to be a retreat rather than diplomacy, with one angry user writing that ‘peace without justice is a hollow word, support without conditions is actually treason’.
Pakistan’s long-standing position has always been this: that Israel will not be recognized until the Palestinian people get their rights, but Shahbaz Sharif’s post felt to many to be a soft U-turn on this red line, and the Pakistani people are not ready to forgive it.
As more than one viral tweet warned, ‘history will remember this betrayal.
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