Prime Minister Imran Khan sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week, urging him to enforce a ban on Islamophobia and disrespectful content against Muslims. His step came after French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent comments on blasphemous caricatures, calling them “encouragement of Islamophobia”. In his remarks, Macron allegedly condemned Islamists and promised not to “give up cartoons” depicting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The French president also stated that Samuel Paty, a professor who was murdered recently for showing the blasphemous sketches, was “killed because Islamists want our future”.
My letter to CEO Facebook Mark Zuckerberg to ban Islamophobia just as Facebook has banned questioning or criticising the holocaust. pic.twitter.com/mCMnz9kxcj
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) October 25, 2020
Following this, the premier’s note to Zuckerberg read, “I am writing to draw your attention to the growing Islamophobia that is encouraging hate, extremism and violence across the world and especially through the use of social media platforms including Facebook. I appreciate your taking the step to rightly ban any posting that criticises or questions the Holocaust, which was the culmination of the Nazi pogrom of the Jews in Germany and across Europe as Nazis spread across Europe.” On the same day, in a string of tweets, Khan said the sign of a leader was that he united people like former South African president Nelson Mandela. “This is a time when President Macron could have put [a] healing touch and denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation and marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation,” he 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 & denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation & marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) October 25, 2020
Khan expressed disappointment in Macron for instead encouraging Islamophobia by “attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence, be it Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi ideologists”.
He stated, “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 polarization.”
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While addressing Zuckerberg in the letter, Khan noted that public statements based on ignorance will only create more hate, Islamophobia and space for extremists. “In India, anti-Muslim laws and measures such as CAA and NRC as well as targeted killings of Muslims and blaming Muslims for coronavirus are reflective of the abominable phenomenon of Islamophobia. In France, Islam has been associated with terrorism and publication of blasphemous cartoons targeting Islam and our Holy Prophet (PBUH) has been allowed,” he wrote. “Given the rampant abuse and vilification of Muslims on social media platforms, I would ask you to place a similar ban on Islamophobia and hate against Islam for Facebook that you have put in place for the Holocaust,” he concluded.