ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has sent a letter to more than 100 Muslim parliamentarians across the globe regarding the recent incidents of Islamophobia, which caused unrest among Muslims globally.
Asad termed it most unfortunate that during the prevailing testing times when humanity is suffering from the lethal COVID-19 pandemic, the plague of hate speech against Muslims reigns high. He said the continued trend of defaming the holy prophet (PBUH) through caricatures, attacks on Muslims’ personal beliefs through social media and then blatant defence of such hate-mongering in the garb of freedom of expression by the world leaders has not only expanded the distrust and divide between civilizations but also fanned the sentiments of extremism and violence.
He said the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo dilemma has witnessed a steep rise in this mayhem as according to “National Observatory of Islamophobia”, there were 235 attacks on Muslims only in France in 2020, witnessing a jump of 53% in just one year. Neuer Osnabrücker Zeitung, a German organization, recorded at least 901 Islamophobic attacks in Germany in the same year while there is a long list of unfortunate incidents such as the Sydney attack in Australia, Christ Church carnage of New Zeeland and the recent Muslim discriminatory laws in India.
He urged the Muslim parliamentarians across the globe to raise their voices against Islamophobia, religious hate-mongering and discrimination in their respective parliaments to help build a common front to promote inter-faith harmony and understanding.
He stated in his letter that a meeting to share ideas to promote harmony through joint efforts to counter such defeatist mentality that divides humanity through disrespect and ridicule will be held in Islamabad as soon as the COVID situation allowed.
