Conflict
GoI ‘sponsors Islamophobia’, Imran Khan tells UNGA ‘country’s 200 million Muslims under threat’
Accusing Government of India (GoI) of sponsoring hatred and prejudice against Islam, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan in his recent speech at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) said that Pakistan denounces the Indian moves to cement control of Muslim majority Kashmir.
On September 25, Khan while addressing the UNGA said that “Islamophobia prevails in India today and threatens the nearly 200 million Muslims who live there.”
“The one country in the world today where, I am sad to say, the state sponsors Islamophobia, is India. The reason behind this is RSS ideology that unfortunately rules India today,” Khan said in a recorded speech to the UNGA, which is being held virtually amid the COVID outbreak.
“They believe that India is exclusive to Hindus and others are not equal citizens,” Khan added.
Pakistan PM has frequently criticised the decision by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi last August to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its statehood, scrap its separate constitution and remove inherited protections on land and jobs.
India’s security clampdown sparked protests, and UN-appointed independent experts have called on the Indian government to take urgent action.
However, India on the other hand is accusing Pakistan of arming and training militants fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India. Pakistan denies the charge and says “it offers only diplomatic and moral support to the militants.”
Khan said that the Indian government believes that India is exclusive to Hindus and others are not equal citizens.
“There will be no durable peace and stability in South Asia until the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is resolved on the basis of international legitimacy,” Khan said during his address, calling for a peaceful solution and a rescinding of India’s August 5 move.
According to a report by an international news organisation Aljazeera, armed forces in the heavily militarised Jammu and Kashmir have “arrested thousands of young men, raided people’s homes, inflicted beatings and electric shocks, and threatened to take away and marry their female relatives”.
“Thousands of protesters over the past year have been wounded in pellet-gun attacks, including hundreds blinded in one or both eyes,” the report said.
For seven months, until March, the area was under a communications blackout with social media and Internet access banned.
“The international community must investigate these grave violations and prosecute the Indian civil and military personnel involved in state terrorism and serious crimes against humanity,” said mentioned.
Khan, as he did in his speech before the world body last year, also condemned the targeting of Muslims in many countries and provocations and incitement “in the name of free speech”.
“Incidents in Europe, including the republication of blasphemous sketches by Charlie Hebdo, are recent examples,” he said.
Last month, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo reprinted the caricatures of Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ) that were first published in 2015.
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