On Monday, the Foreign Office of Pakistan summoned the French envoy, Marc Baréty, to inform about the country’s strong opposition to the public display of Charlie Hebdo cartoons and comments of the French President on radical Islam.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi seeks UN intervention against ‘Islamophobia’
According to the statement of the Foreign Office spokesperson, Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry, the French ambassador was provided with a dossier by the special secretary (Europe) and Pakistan’s displeasure to the Charlie Hebdo row was conveyed to him. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said that the remarks of the French President were ‘irresponsible’ and added ‘fuel to fire.’ He had urged the United Nations to take notice of the ‘hate-based narrative’ against Islam and take necessary action.
Qureshi also said that a resolution will be presented before the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to mark March 15 as International Day against Islamophobia. “Nobody has the right to hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims under the guise of freedom of expression,” he reiterated.
Foreign Ministry condemned desecration of Quran
Earlier on Sunday, the Foreign Office issued a statement to condemn rising Islamophobia and acts of ‘desecration’ of the Quran in developed countries. The statement read, “We are further alarmed at highly disturbing statements by certain politicians justifying such heinous acts under the garb of freedom of expression and equating Islam with terrorism, for narrow electoral and political gains.” It further claimed that freedom of speech and expression came with special duties and responsibilities.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan attacks French President
In a video statement at UNGA, he tried to justify what has happened in France and said, “The Prophet lives in our hearts. When he is ridiculed, when he is insulted, it hurts… We human beings understand one thing: The pain of the heart is far, far, far more hurtful than physical pain. And that’s why the Muslims react to this.” He further added that people from the west do not understand the sentiments attached to the Prophet. The Pakistan PM also compared the pain suffered by the Jewish during the holocaust to the pain induced in Muslims by insulting Prophet Muhammad.
Islam is in crisis all over world, conceded French President
Prior to the beheading case, the French President Emmanuel Macron took the stage at city hall in the Paris suburb of Les Mureaux to deliver one of the most consequential speeches of his career. He stated, “It is Islamic separatism that we have to attack. Islamic separatism is a conscious effort, a politico-religious one. It repeatedly breaks with the values of the Republic and aims to form a counter-society.”
Macron continued, “This takes the form of taking kids out of school, developing sports and cultural communities that become an excuse for teaching principles that do not conform to the laws of the Republic. This indoctrination negates our principles such as equality of men and women and the dignity of the human being.”
The beheading of Samuel Paty
Paty was killed on October 16 by 18-year-old radical Islamist named Abdoullakh Abouyezidovitch A in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine for showcasing cartoons of Prophet Muhammad to his students at College du Bois d’Aulne. The terrorist had uploaded the gory pictures of the murder on Twitter, before being shot dead by the French police. It has come to light now that the gruesome attack was the result of doxxing and vitriolic online campaign, led by the father of a 13-year old student of the deceased and the local mosque.
