PM Imran Khan talks about Islamophobia in West during ulema conference

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that  Muslim countries should stand up to the West and express their concerns against the rising Islamophobia in the world. 

He was addressing a conference of the Ulema and Mashaikh Conference in Islamabad.  Shedding light on how the West associated Islam with terrorism and started a disinformation campaign against the religion, PM Imran Khan said that he knows Western countries better than other Pakistani leaders because of living there for a long time. 

"The West conveniently associated Islam with terrorism but in the last 20 years, Muslim countries unfortunately, did not respond to this narrative," he said. "Muslim leaders should have stood up to the West and made it clear that there is no link between Islam, or any other religion, with terrorism."

The premier also said that the West uses terms like "radical Islam," "Islamic extremism," but does not consider that extremists exist in every society and it is not something specific to Muslims. 

"Muslims living in Western countries, and even in India, are facing a lot of problems because of Islamophobia," he said. " When Muslim women living in the West go out of their houses wearing a headscarf, people taunt them. Similarly, bearded Muslim men have to face derogatory remarks."

The PM assured that he will continue to raise his voice against Islamophobia.