Imran’s slamming of Islamophobia justified

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s concern and irritation at Islamophobia in Western political and social media circles warrants attention – and is rightly justified.

He has called on Facebook to ban Islamophobic content on its platform, warning this would increase radicalisation amongst Muslims.

The request to Facebookcomes close on the heels of him taking a swipe at the French president Emmanuel Macron for “attacking Islam.”

Muslims in the Middle East and beyond on Monday broadened their calls for boycotts of French products and protests, as a clash over depictions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the limits of free speech intensified.

Pakistan has summoned France’s ambassador in Islamabad, the foreign office said on Monday.

The foreign office spokesman confirmed that the French ambassador had been summoned and shared a statement from his office which said “Pakistan condemns systematic Islamophobic campaign under the garb of freedom of expression”.

Khan, in an open letter posted on Twitter on Sunday, said “growing Islamophobia” was fanning extremism and violence worldwide, especially through social media platforms such as Facebook.

“I would ask you to place a similar ban on Islamophobia and hate against Islam for Facebook that you have put in place for the Holocaust,” Khan said.

This month, Facebook said it was updating its hate speech policy to ban content that denied or distorted the Holocaust.

“One cannot send a message that while hate messages against some are unacceptable, these are acceptable against others,” Khan said, adding such a stance was “reflective of prejudice and bias that will encourage further radicalisation.”

Khan has voiced his dismay and disgust at the situation in France, where he said Islam was being associated with terrorism.

French President Emmanuel Macron had “attacked Islam” by encouraging the display of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Khan said. Khan’s comments came after Macron paid tribute to a French history teacher beheaded by a radical who wanted to avenge the use of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in a class on freedom of expression.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also slammed Macron, not once but twice, after which France recalled its ambassador to Turkey.

A day after saying that Macron needed his head examined for condoning caricatures of the Prophet, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the French leader has “lost his way.”

“The person in charge of France has lost his way,” Erdogan said. “He goes on about Erdogan while in bed and while awake. Look at yourself first and where you’re going. I said yesterday...he is a case, and he really must be examined,” he said.

“What is the problem of this person called Macron with Islam and Muslims?” Erdogan, a devout Muslim, asked rhetorically on Saturday during his Justice and Development party meeting in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri.

It was the latest episode in a string of increasingly bitter differences between Paris and Ankara that are fraying ties between the two Nato allies. Macron’s office said on Saturday that Erdogan’s policies are “dangerous.”

Imran Khan and Erdogan have developed a close relationship – particularly on the topic of Islamophobia. The cartoons of the Prophet, first published in 2005 by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, have long been a sensitive topic among Muslims, stirring protests in Pakistan and elsewhere.

Tens of thousands of people protested in Pakistan last month when the cartoons were republished by the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

Pakistan and a bloc of Muslim nations condemned, without using insults, remarks by Macron last week in which he refused to condemn the publication or showing of caricatures of the Prophet.

Imran Khan tweeted that Macron chose “to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists” and “to deliberately provoke Muslims, including his own citizens.”

Macron’s remarks have incensed another luminary, France’s star midfielder Paul Pogba, who has allegedly made the decision to quit representing the country. Pogba is a practising Muslim.