UN should combat religious hatred: Prime Minister
Monitoring Desk:
Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged upon the United Nations to combat religious hatred. In his address to the UN General Assembly, the Premier demanded of the international community to play its role against the rising tide of Islamophobia around the globe.
In a virtual address, the prime minister lamented that at a time when the global community should have come together to combat the novel coronavirus, it had instead stoked racism and religious hatred. “Unfortunately, it has instead fanned nationalism, increased global tensions and given rise to racial and religious hatred and violence against vulnerable minorities in several places.
Islamophobia was rising in several countries, he said, adding that Muslims were being “targeted with impunity”, mosques were being desecrated and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was being insulted “in the name of freedom of speech”.
He also talked about the anti-Muslim sentiment in India, which, the prime minister said was “the one country in the world […] where the state sponsors Islamophobia”. He once again told the UNGA about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Nazi-like “ideology” to seek “racial purity” of Hindus which was ascribed to by the incumbent Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party Bharatiya Janata Party.
“We stress that wilful provocations and incitement to hate and violence must be universally outlawed,” the premier said, adding that the UNGA should “declare an international day to combat Islamophobia”.
“We believe that the driving force in international relations must be cooperation in accordance with the principles of international law and not confrontation and force. We all must emphatically reaffirm our support for multilateralism.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has illustrated the oneness of humanity. No one is safe unless everyone is safe,” Prime Minister Imran stated.
