ISLAMABAD – Pakistan will soon launch a campaign against Islamophobia, remarked Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday. We have to make the Europeans understand our religious sensitivities, he said while speaking at the National Rehmatul Lil Alameen Conference in Islamabad.

“We have to tell them that publication of such cartoons hurts our sentiments and that no Muslim can tolerate anything against the Holy Prophet (PBUH),” the PM said.

“No one can even joke about the Holocaust but they don’t think twice before demeaning our religion.” A major reason for this is the failure of Muslim leadership. “I will personally run a campaign against Islamophobia to try to counter the hate against our religion.”

A small group is trying its best to portray Islam in a negative light. They are quite dangerous too, he added.

Pakistan was carved out with the vision to build it on the principles of the State of Madina. “We are facing problems today because, unfortunately, we have deviated from the ideology of our founding fathers.”

PM Khan’s letter on Islamophobia

The PM has written an official letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to ban Islamophobia on the platform.

Dated October 25, the letter highlights that growing Islamophobia is “encouraging hate, extremism and violence across the world, and especially through the use of social media platforms including Facebook”

The premier noted that Facebook has taken the step to “rightly” ban posts that criticise or question the veracity of the Holocaust.

“However, today we are seeing a similar pogrom against Muslims in different parts of the world,” he said. “Unfortunately, in some states, Muslims are being denied their citizenship rights and their democratic personal choices from dress to worship.”

In India, anti-Muslim laws and measures such as the CAA and NRC as well as targeted killings of Muslims and blaming Muslims for the coronavirus are reflective of the abominable phenomenon of Islamophobia, he wrote.

The premier also mentioned how Islam has been associated with terrorism in France and the publication of a cartoon about the Holy Prophet (PBUH) has been allowed. PM Khan recently accused French President Emmanuel Macron of attacking Islam in a series of tweets posted on Sunday.