Pakistan caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Thursday announced a ban on the New Year celebration in the country to express solidarity with Palestinians.

“Keeping in mind the seriously concerning situation in Palestine and to show solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters, there will be a strict ban by the government on holding any kind of event for New Year,” Kakar said.

“The whole Pakistani nation and the Muslim world are in a sheer state of anguish over the massacre of innocent children and genocide of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” he added.

Kakar claimed that over 21,000 Palestinians were killed so far by the Israeli forces that “crossed all limits of violence and injustice” with around 9,000 children dead since the Israeli bombardment began on October 7.

He said Pakistan had dispatched two aid packages to Palestine while a third package was being prepared.

Pakistan tried to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people on various global forums and would continue to do so in the future as well to stop the ‘Israeli bloodshed’, Kakar added.