Pakistan scribe calls out Imran Khan govt for 'lecturing' France, staying quiet on Uighurs

A Pakistan-based journalist has called out Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government over hypocrisy for staying “quiet on Uighurs” and lecturing the French government on religious freedoms. In an opinion piece published in The Spectator, Kunwar Khuldune Shahid also mentioned that Imran Khan’s government can not replicate the apparent religious tolerance as the number of places of worship for different faiths in Pakistan has drastically reduced especially in the recent years. 

While talking further about the remarks made by Khan and other lawmakers in the recent weeks retaliating to French President Emmanuel Macron on the latter’s remarks against extremism that has rocked the European nation this month, Shahid mentioned how “Islam is thriving in France” but the Pakistani politicians are “conveniently quiet on Uighurs”. The Pakistan-based journalist also questioned the “moral ground” by which the Imran Khan government is lecturing France despite the “apartheid against Ahmadis”.

“While Pakistani leaders have been visibly more invested in French Muslims - and conveniently quiet on Uighurs - they seem to ignore that Islam is thriving in France: the number of mosques in the country has grown from 33 in 1971 to over 2,500 now. It is a pity that Pakistan can't replicate this apparent tolerance for those of other faiths; the number of minority places of worship in Pakistan has reduced dramatically in recent years,” Shahid wrote as reported by ANI.

“Despite effective religious apartheid against Ahmadis, and a reported 1,000 forced conversions to Islam each year, Pakistan continues to think it has a moral ground to lecture France on religious freedom. Why?” he added.

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Pakistani lawmakers on French terror attacks

With no stance on the alleged detention of the Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region, the Pakistani lawmakers have retaliated to Macron’s approach to deal with extremism in his country. A social media post by Pakistan Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari reportedly impacted the diplomatic relations with France. In a now-deleted tweet, she had said, “Macron is doing to Muslims what the Nazis did to the Jews -- Muslim children will get ID numbers (other children won't) just as Jews were forced to wear the yellow star on their clothing for identification.”

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The tweet also drew criticism from French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and demanded Charge d'affaires of Pakistan in Paris for rectification. The French government had also termed it shocking and insulting. Even Pakistan PM Imran Khan has told the United Nations (UN) about the rising nationalism has ‘accentuated Islamophobia’ and even claimed that Muslims ‘continue to be targeted with impunity in many countries’.

While Macron has vowed to protect citizens’ freedom of expression and has publicly defended the cartoons on what depicted Islam’s religious leader Prophet Muhammad, Khan accused the French President of ‘deliberately provoking’ Muslims. Soon after deleting her tweet on Macron, Mazari responded by posting, “why are nuns allowed to wear their 'habit' in public places but Muslim women not their hijab?”. But Shahid pointed out that France has prohibited all religious symbols in public institutions.

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