Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday accused French President Emmanuel Macron of "attacking Islam", following a European leader's criticism of Islamists and cartoons depicting Muhammad (PBUH). Defended publication.
Khan's comments came after Macron's remarks
following the beheading of a French teacher near Paris on Monday showed
cartoons of the Holy Prophet (SAW) during a class in which he was leading a
free speech. ۔
Macron said the teachers were killed’
"because Islamists want our future."
In a series of tweets, Khan said the comment
would split the divide.
"This is a time when press macros could have
replaced extremism with healing contacts and denials rather than creating
further polarization and backwardness, which inevitably leads to
radicalism," Khan wrote.
"It is unfortunate that it has chosen to
encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than terrorists who commit
terrorism, whether they are Muslims, white supremacists or Nazi
ideologues."
Macron had already sparked controversy earlier
this month when he said, "Islam is a religion in crisis around the
world."
The French teacher became the target of an online
hate campaign over the choice of lesson material. The same images that led to
the January 2015 bloody attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the original
publisher of the magazine Tayyab, by Islamist gunmen.
Islam forbids Muhammad’s caricatures.
Blasphemy is an explosive issue in
ultra-conservative Pakistan, where anyone suspected of insulting Islam or
Islamic figures could face the death penalty.
"By attacking Islam, without clearly
understanding anything about it, President Macron has attacked and hurt the
feelings of millions of Muslims in Europe and around the world," Khan
said.
In a speech to the UN last month, a popular
public leader, known for Pakistan's hardline religious base, accused Charlie
Hebdo of republishing cartoons, calling "deliberate provocation"
global. Should be declared’ null and void.
Several Muslim countries have called for a
boycott of French goods.
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