Teacher Killing: French president encouraged Islamophobia, says Imran Khan

Teacher Killing in France: Days after the French president Emmanuel Macron dedicated a high-level ceremony to Samuel Paty, a teacher who was beheaded for showing students caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan criticized the French President for his recent comments on Islam. Khan said that French president has encouraged Islamophobia. In a series of tweets, Imran Khan took to Twitter and wrote: "Hallmark of a leader is he unites human beings, as Mandela did, rather than dividing them. This is a time when Pres Macron could have put healing touch and denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation and marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation." Also Read | Indian Air Force formally inducts its newly acquired Rafale fighter jets "It is unfortunate that he has chosen to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence, be it Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi ideologists," he added. Also Read | COVID-19: France declares public health state of emergency "Sadly, President Macron has chosen to deliberately provoke Muslims, including his own citizens through encouraging the display of blasphemous cartoons targeting Islam and our Prophet PBUH," he said further. The Pakistan Prime Minister further said, "By attacking Islam, clearly without having any understanding of it, President Macron has attacked and hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims in Europe and across the world." "The last thing the world wants or needs is further polarisation. Public statements based on ignorance will create more hate, Islamophobia & space for extremists," he concluded. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron said, "We will not give in, ever. We respect all differences in a spirit of peace. We do not accept hate speech and defend reasonable debate. We will always be on the side of human dignity and universal values." Talking about Teacher killing in France, Emmanuel Macron said the teacher Samuel Paty "was killed as Islamists want our future," as he pledged to fight the "Islamist separatism" that threatened to take hold of some of the Muslim communities around France. -PTC News