Pakistan summons French ambassador to lodge 'strong protest' over 'Islamophobic campaign'

Pakistan has summoned French envoy Marc Baréty to lodge “strong protest” against President Emmanuel Macron’s comment on radical Islamists and cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. Macron had defended the right to show a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad after the murder of a French teacher who showed cartoons of the religious leader in class.

Macron had said that the teacher, Samuel Paty, "was killed because Islamists want our future", but France would "not give up our cartoons". The visual depiction of Prophet Muhammad in any form since can cause serious offence to Islamic fundamentalists because they believe it amounts to blasphemy. In 2015, 

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the French Ambassador was called in to convey deep concerns over the “systematic resurgence of blasphemous acts” of republication of caricatures of Prophet Muhammad by certain “irresponsible elements.” According to the statement posted on the spokesperson’s official Facebook page, the Foreign Ministry underscored the “such illegal and Islamophobic acts” hurt the sentiments of Muslims across the world, including those in Pakistan. 

“Furthermore, such actions could not be justified in the name of freedom of expression,” it read.

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'Narrow electoral gains'

Pakistan also strongly condemned equating Islam with terrorism “for narrow electoral and political gains,” adding that such provocative statements and actions were fanning inter-religious hatred, hostility and confrontation. The foreign office reiterated that freedom of expression should not be misused as a “means to attack or hurt” public sentiments or religious beliefs.

“At a time of rising racism, intolerance and populism, there is a need to promote harmony among peoples and communities instead of reinforcing stereotypes and making people alienated,” the spokesperson added.

The controversy surrounding Macron’s comment on Islam also led to to the boycott of French goods in some supermarket of Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar. The French foreign ministry has urged the Arab countries to immediately halt the boycott, saying calls for a boycott distort France’s position on freedom of expression and freedom of religion.

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