After Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the alleged Islamophobic remarks of the French President Emmanuel Macron in a video address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), now Pakistan’s National Assembly has passed a resolution yesterday asking Pakistani government to recall its ambassador to France in protest against the publication of images of Prophet Mohammed in France.
The resolution asked the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to boycott French products and designate March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia. It also urged the non-OIC countries to offer legal assistance to Muslims residing in their countries for their grievance redressal while also calling upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to start a global dialogue to counter Islamophobia.
Pakistan doesn’t have an envoy in France
The National Assembly resolution seems in line with Pakistan’s reaction after the French President’s alleged remarks. However, the interesting thing to note here is that Pakistan does not currently have an envoy in France. The parody country of Pakistan just does not fail to embarrass itself. Pakistan’s ambassador to France Moin-ul-Haq was transferred to as ambassador to China three months ago. Pakistan did not appoint his replacement in the Pakistani embassy in Paris since then.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi who was reportedly among the members of the National Assembly who moved the resolution was aware of the fact that there is no Pakistani ambassador in France at the moment. Qureshi reportedly did not inform the Assembly about the same in the heat of discussion.
Pakistan Foreign Office summoned French Envoy
Yesterday, French envoy in Pakistan Marc Baréty was summoned by Pakistan Foreign Office 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.
Imran Khan accused Macron of ‘Polarisation and Marginalisation’
After justifying the beheading of a teacher in France by Islamists in his UNGA address, Imran Khan toed the line of the Turkish President and accused the French President of polarisation and marginalistaion and said that this would lead to radicalisation. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogen had attacked President Macron saying that he needed a mental treatment.
Khan had also justified the beheading of a school teacher. He had stated that the ‘insult’ to the prophet is deeply hurtful to an Muslim and hence the showcasing of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons resulted in the brutal murder.
The Pakistani people, urged in by their PM and ministers, are calling for social media boycott of anything French.
Beheading of Samuel Paty
Samuel Paty, a school teacher, was publicly beheaded by a radical Islamist for showing a caricature of Prophet Muhammad to his students. He was beheaded by a Russian refugee Abdoullakh Abouyezidovitch who was inspired by an online campaign that was run against Paty for alleged blasphemy.