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Columbus Mabika
Herald Reporter
The Interfaith Religious Council of Leaders yesterday held a solidarity rally in Harare calling for a stop to the killing of Palestinian people in Gaza by Israeli forces and the removal of illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West.
The gathering signed petitions on the removal of sanctions on Zimbabwe which they will deliver to the African Union, the United States Embassy, the British Embassy and SADC.
Speaking during the rally, Pastor Chipo Mapungwana said the church was fully behind the initiative to stop the conflict in Gaza.
“Hospitals must be sanctuaries to preserve human lives, not scenes of death and destruction. We as the church, are fully behind the idea to end this conflict,” he said, emphasising that respect for international humanitarian law was an imperative of the international community.
Echoing the same sentiments, Morrison Mafuta from the Council of African Spirits condemned the genocide being conducted against Palestinians in Gaza, saying children, women and older persons were suffering injustice and human rights violations.
“Israel must immediately stop its collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. All humans are the same and no one should just be killed, look at the way children and the elderly are suffering,” he said.
The gathering called for the unconditional removal of economic sanctions imposed by Western countries on Zimbabwe which have affected ordinary citizens daily and hampered national development in the last two decades.
Western allies imposed the embargoes following the successful implementation of the land reform programme, which was meant to address the unequal distribution of land between the black majority and the white minority.
The Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Zimbabwe (SCIAZ) president, Sheikh Ishmail Duwa said the fiction that the sanctions were targeted had lost its appeal.
“We strongly opposes the sanctions imposed on the Government of Zimbabwe by Western countries,” he said.
“By imposing sanctions, these western powers have directly caused the death of poor communities, especially women and children, lack of access to food and health care is directly traceable to these sanctions.”
Sheikh Duwa called for Zimbabweans to unite irrespective of religious affiliation and political differences to pressure the West to remove the sanctions unconditionally.
“The people who imposed sanctions say no to human rights abuse, child protection and women protection meanwhile they infringe what they preach by imposing sanctions which are hurting the same people whom they purport to be protecting. We call for all progressive Zimbabweans to unite and advocate for removal of sanctions unconditionally,” he said.
He said sanctions were human rights abuses and killed, especially ordinary people, and could be equated to the situation in Gaza.
“How many people, including children and women, are dying because lack of medicines in hospitals? Our youths are affected by drugs because of unemployment caused by sanctions. Sanctions are silent killers,” he said.
“We as Muslims of Zimbabwe strongly condemn the imposition of sanctions which have affected ordinary citizens and hampered national development in the last decades.
“Allah says in the Holy Quran: “And whoever saves one life, it is as if had saved mankind entirely” (Quran chapter 5 verse 32 Surah Maidah). This means if you kill one life, it is as if you have killed mankind entirely.”
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