Emmanuel Macron Has Attacked Islam and Hurt Sentiments of Muslims: Pakistan PM Imran Khan Over Prophet's Cartoon Row in France
Islamabad, October 25: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday hit out at French President Emmanuel Macron "for attacking Islam and hurting sentiments of Muslims". Imran Khan's remarks were in the context of Emmanuel Macron's recent statements after a French teacher was beheaded near Paris after he had shown cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to his students in a class on freedom of speech.
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Macron had said that the teacher "was killed because Islamists want our future." "Hallmark of a leader is he unites human beings, as Mandela did, rather than dividing them. This is a time when Pres Macron could have put healing touch & denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation & marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation (sic)," Khan said in a series of tweet. Charlie Hebdo's Republication of Cartoons of Prophet Muhammad A 'Provocation', is 'Absolutely Unacceptable', Says Iran.
"It is unfortunate that he has chosen to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence, be it Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi ideologists. Sadly, President Macron has chosen to deliberately provoke Muslims, incl his own citizens, through encouraging the display of blasphemous cartoons targeting Islam & our Prophet PBUH," the Pakistani Prime Minister opined.
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He went on to add: "By attacking Islam, clearly without having any understanding of it, President Macron has attacked & hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims in Europe & across the world. The last thing the world wants or needs is further polarisation. Public statements based on ignorance will create more hate, Islamophobia & space for extremists."
Imran Khan Hits Out at Emmanuel Macron:
It is unfortunate that he has chosen to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence, be it Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi ideologists. Sadly, President Macron has chosen to deliberately provoke Muslims, incl his own citizens,
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) October 25, 2020
The last thing the world wants or needs is further polarisation. Public statements based on ignorance will create more hate, Islamophobia & space for extremists.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) October 25, 2020
Samuel Paty, a history teacher in the greater Paris area, was murdered earlier this month by a refugee after Paty showed caricatures of Prophet Mohammed to his students. In 2015, Islamist gunmen attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo and killed most of the paper's editorial board for publishing caricatures of Prophet Muhammad. Caricatures of Mohammed are forbidden by Islam.
