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Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a video message on Thursday said: "I in my personal capacity and on behalf of the government of Pakistan strongly condemn re-publication of deeply offensive caricature of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by a French magazine, Charlie Hebdo."
“The shameful act has hurt the feelings of millions of Muslims,” he noted. He added that people are outraged around the world and this unjustified act should be condemned as much as possible.
“We are seeing a growing trend of Islamophobia, racism and xenophobia in the world,” he noted.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi added that Pakistan has pointed out this issue on every international forum.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan, while addressing the UN General Assembly, also raised this issue and demanded from the world to address this matter,” the minister said.
He said that we must sit down at the international level, and think about how to stop the tendencies that hurt the feelings of others.
“Pakistan is a democratic country, we believe in freedom of expression, but freedom of expression does not mean that you have a license to hurt others,” Qureshi pointed out.
He said: We expect the international community to address this issue immediately and root out such trends.
“The Government of Pakistan has conveyed its concerns to the French government we have conveyed our feelings to the French government through their ambassador,” he said.
He said such profane acts should not be repeated rather those behind it must be taken to task.
Charlie Hebdo is a French left-wing magazine with a history of publishing derogatory and anti-religious in content. It had published caricatures of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 2012 and 2015 that provoked Muslims to start demonstrations around the globe.
Earlier Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri warning against a new wave of Islamophobia in Europe had strongly condemned the recent incidents of desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden and Norway.
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