Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, a pro-Palestine Pakistani activist and former senator, received a hero's welcome upon his return home after being released from detention by Israel following its attack on the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla last week.
Thousands of people, including members of the religiopolitical party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and its student wing, Islami Jamiat Talaba, greeted him at the Islamabad airport on Thursday.
Participants raised Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against Israel and in support of Gaza, where a ceasefire has been in effect partially since Thursday noon, following marathon talks in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Khan, 51, who served one term as a senator until last year, was one of hundreds of international activists illegally abducted last week by Israeli naval forces, who seized about 40 boats from the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian mission aimed at breaking the Gaza blockade.
Over 450 activists were detained, the majority of whom have since been deported.
A Pakistani passport does not allow its holders to travel to Israel because Islamabad does not recognise Israel and has linked such a move to the implementation of the two-state solution, which envisions an independent state of Palestine along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Khan was deported to Jordan's capital, Amman, on Tuesday, after being released from Israel's illegal detention centre.
Perhaps Khan is the first Pakistani citizen detained by Israel in such an incident.
Staunch support of Palestinian cause
Khan is a senior JI leader who was a senator from 2018 to March 2024 and previously led the party in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
He is well-known for his strong support for the Palestinian cause, having organised numerous rallies under the "Save Gaza" banner in Islamabad and across Pakistan, where he was often arrested by local authorities for his activism.
"During our time (in Israeli jail), our hands were handcuffed behind our backs, chains were placed on our feet, guns were pointed at us, dogs were unleashed on us, and we were subjected to severe torture," Khan said after he reached Amman on Tuesday.
When Khan arrived in Pakistan on Thursday, JI chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman announced that the party's social welfare wing, the Al-Khidmat Foundation, would collect one billion US dollars across the South Asian nation to support Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave.
The Al-Khidmat Foundation, one of the country's largest charities, has collaborated with Turkish and Egyptian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to provide relief to Palestinians in Gaza and Egypt.
Earlier, dozens of Palestinian students were brought to Pakistan to complete their studies amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.
