Pakistan will not stay silent on Modi’s fascism, violence against Muslims: FM Qureshi

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said Pakistan will not stay silent, allowing the fascist Narendra Modi government to round up Muslims to be beaten and killed.

In a series of tweets, the foreign minister said India's discriminatory treatment against Muslims is aimed at having their nationalities stripped, their livelihoods robbed, their demography changed and their future insecure.

Sharing a statement from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Islamophobia, FM Qureshi said, “we will not stand by and let another Gujarat [massacre] happen.”

He said world bodies like the United Nations (UN) and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have supported Pakistan to counter rising cases of anti-Muslim violence and Islamophobia in India to initiate a working group for collective action.

“Pakistan has consistently appealed to the UN and OIC to condemn Modi's Hindutva supremacist ideology with relentless Islamophobia and & violence/regional instability perpetuated,” Qureshi said.

He welcomed the UN chief’s agreement on the need to counter Islamophobia and earlier censure by Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of OIC.

‘Countering Islamophobia top priority’

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that countering anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia is his “top priority” and he “fully agrees” with the assessment that it could pose a threat to international peace and security.

The UN Chief gave the statement recently at the virtual meeting of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states at the United Nations (UN) in response to the comments from Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Munir Akram, who drew his attention to the rising cases of anti-Muslim violence and Islamophobia in India and urged him to adopt a more focused and consistent system-wise approach to fully tackle the menace.

Speaking at the meeting organized by OIC on the theme of “COVID-19 Solidarity: Promoting Co-Existence and Shared Responsibility”, Guterres voiced his concern over the rise of Islamophobia and called for fighting this phenomenon collectively, the informed sources said.

Earlier this week, Pakistan had proposed the establishment of a dedicated OIC Working Group on Islamophobia.

Several OIC countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Malaysia and Egypt welcomed Pakistan’s proposal and need for a concerted OIC position on Islamophobia at the world body.

The remarks made by the UN Secretary-General indicate that the OIC will pursue Pakistan’s proposal for collective action to counter Islamophobia.