Backing Palestine, students at Karchi's Institute of Business Administration (IBA) recently walked out from a recruitment drive held by beverage major Coca-Cola. While many in Pakistan hailed students' decision to walk out, some questioned the students' support for terrorist outfit Hamas.
Sushant Sareen, senior fellow at ORF, said the IBA students' boycotting of the recruitment drive by Coca-Cola "shows the depths of jihadism to which Pakistan has sunk." "Imagine people in IIM-A doing something like this - supporting a jihadist terror organisation like HAMAS. There is nothing normal in that country anymore. Anyone who thinks you can have normal relations with them needs serious psych treatment," he said.
Pakistan has sided with Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas, in its fight against Israel. In October last year, Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel, killing 1200-plus people including women and children. Following this, Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas from Gaza.
Ahmed Quraishi, a journalist, on Sunday, said that Jordan has identified Hamas' role behind rallies designed to destabilise the country using the war in Gaza as a pretext. He said Morocco and Pakistan are two other countries where Hamas is trying to expand its footprint.
"The Moroccan media is discussing this. In Pakistan, the Iran office of the militant group is quietly building partnerships with Pakistani lawmakers and universities in the backdrop of the Gaza war," he said.
Qqraishi said this is the second time in five years that Hamas's Tehran office has tried to establish a foothold inside Pakistan. "In 2019, both Hamas and #Hezbollah appeared to be making inroads in Pakistan under former premier Imran Khan who was known to be sympathetic to radical Islamist groups. Almost every radical group in the region used #Palestine as a cover story to push their agendas."
As Israel launched a ground offensive against Hamas, a boycott movement began in Pakistan. Pakistanis demanded a boycott of drinks by Coca-Cola and Pepsico.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) was accused of aiding Israel's surveillance of dissidents and Palestinians in general through a biometric ID system.
In Pakistan, there had been calls to boycott various brands such as Dominos, Carrefour, McDonalds, Coca Cola and PepsiCo.
Not just Pakistan, consumers in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, the UAE, and Malaysia and Pakistan spurned brands that were allegedly complicit in the oppression of Palestinians.