Tag: blasphemy

  • ‘Stay out of our domestic affairs,’ French minister tells Pakistan and Turkey

    Turkey and Pakistan should not meddle in France’s domestic affairs, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan denounced French President Emmanuel Macron’s “anti-Islam” agenda and called for a boycott of French goods.

    The comments from Erdogan and Imran were the latest expression of anger in the Muslim world over blasphemous images being displayed in France of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him).

    Erdogan, in his statement, also questioned Macron’s mental health, prompting Paris to recall its ambassador in Ankara.

    Joining Erdogan, Imran also denounced Macron’s remarks on the publication of caricatures, calling them “encouragement of Islamophobia”.

    “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 premier had said.

    “It should shock each one of us that foreign powers are meddling with what is going on in France,” Darmanin told France Inter radio earlier this week, adding he was referring to Turkey and Pakistan, where parliament passed a resolution urging the government to recall its ambassador from Paris.

    The National Assembly (NA) on Monday unanimously passed a resolution condemning the caricatures and the “resurgence of Islamophobic acts” in some countries.

    “Turkey should not meddle with France’s domestic affairs,” Darmanin added.

    The row has its roots in a knife attack outside a French school on October 16 in which a man of Chechen origin beheaded Samuel Paty, a teacher who had shown pupils blasphemous caricatures of Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) in a civics lesson on freedom of speech.

    Macron, who met representatives of France’s Muslim community on Monday, has pledged to fight “Islamist separatism”, saying it was threatening to “take over” some Muslim communities in France.

  • France: Woman beheaded inside church; two others dead, several injured

    France: Woman beheaded inside church; two others dead, several injured

    A knifeman on Thursday beheaded a woman besides killing two others and injuring dozens of worshippers in an attack inside a church in Nice on the Côte d’Azur — the Mediterranean coast of southeastern France.

    According to reports, the killings happened at 9 am inside the Notre-Dame basilica in the city centre. There were unconfirmed reports in the French media that at least one of the victims had been beheaded.

    Police described the scene as a “vision of horror”.

    The attacker was shot and injured by police and was taken to hospital.

    READ: France urges Muslims to stop boycott of French products over blasphemous cartoons

    The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said the attacker had repeated “Allahu Akbar” several times while he was being arrested and handcuffed by police.

    He said a woman victim had been decapitated but he had no details of how the two others were killed.

    The attack comes less than two weeks after history teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded outside his high school after showing his class blasphemous caricatures, including one of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) during a discussion on free speech.

    READ: Blasphemy protests: Qureshi wants non-existent Pakistani envoy back from France

    Police confirmed that three people had died in the attack.

    France’s anti-terrorist prosecutor has been brought in to investigate charges of “killing linked to a terrorist organisation”.

    President Emmanuel Macron is heading to Nice.

  • VIDEO: Egg on French president’s face over Islam remarks?

    French President Emmanuel Macron has come under criticism over his remarks on Islam after a teacher was beheaded on the streets of Paris allegedly for showing blasphemous cartoons to students.

    Amid this, a video of Macron having an egg thrown at his face as he is in conversation with some people is circulating on social media.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    The claim along with the video says Macron was attacked for his remarks on Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and Islam, which have led to calls for a boycott of French products across the Muslim world.

    The Current has found the claim along with the video to be misleading. The video was shot in March 2017 in Paris days before the presidential elections in France, when Macron was a candidate for the top post.

    Using related keywords, we found some media reports carrying a similar video of the event, shot from a different angle.

    A report by Express says Macron was attacked by a protester with an egg when he was attending an agriculture show in Paris in March 2017.

    This was not the first time when Macron was egged. In 2016 too, an angry mob pelted eggs on Macron in Paris.

    So, it has been established that the video is more than three years old and has nothing to with Macron’s recent remarks on Islam.

    ‘WON’T GIVE INTO ISLAMIC RADICALS’:

    On Sunday, Macron tweeted, “We will not give in, ever to Islamic radicals.”

    “We do not accept hate speech and defend reasonable debate,” the French leader added.

    Calls to boycott French goods are already growing in the Arab world and beyond after Macron criticised Islamists and vowed not to “give up cartoons” depicting the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

    Macron’s initial comments, on Wednesday, had come in response to the beheading of a teacher, Samuel Paty, outside his school in a suburb outside Paris earlier this month, after he had shown the blasphemous cartoons during a class he was leading on free speech.

    With the French president pledging to fight “Islamist separatism”, which he said was threatening to take control in some Muslim communities around France, hashtags such as the #BoycottFrenchProducts in English and the Arabic #ExceptGodsMessenger trended across countries, including Pakistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

  • Blasphemy protests: Qureshi wants non-existent Pakistani envoy back from France

    Blasphemy protests: Qureshi wants non-existent Pakistani envoy back from France

    As calls for a boycott of France grow following the publication of caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Pakistan parliament has passed a resolution, urging the state to recall its ambassador stationed in Paris.

    However, the resolution moved by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi willfully ignored the fact that Pakistan has no ambassador in Paris for the past three months. Moin-ul-Haq, who was heading the Pakistani mission in France, was transferred to China in August.

    In the absence of the ambassador, Muhammad Amjad Aziz Qazi, who is deputy head of the mission, is looking after the affairs of the embassy till the new appointment.

    Geo News reported FM Qureshi was aware of the fact that the Pakistan embassy in France is without an ambassador but he didn’t oblige the house by passing on the information.

    The resolution didn’t mention the expulsion of the French envoy in Islamabad as it thinks it would be an “extreme step”.

    On Monday, Pakistan had summoned French envoy to register a protest for hurting sentiments of Muslims around the world.

    Qureshi had said that it was time to make a collective decision on the sensitive issue. “Civilised nations should respect Muslim sentiments,” he had added.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has also condemned Macron, saying that the French president “attacked Islam” by encouraging the display of the blasphemous caricatures.

  • France urges Muslims to stop boycott of French products over blasphemous cartoons

    France has urged Arab countries to stop calls for boycotts of French products, while President Emmanuel Macron vowed the country would never give in to “Islamic radicals”.

    The French Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement released on Sunday that in recent days there had been calls to boycott French products, notably food products, in several Middle Eastern countries as well as calls for demonstrations against France over the publication of satirical cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

    “These calls for boycott are baseless and should stop immediately, as well as all attacks against our country, which are being pushed by a radical minority,” the statement said.

    On Sunday, Macron tweeted, “We will not give in, ever to Islamic radicals.”

    “We do not accept hate speech and defend reasonable debate,” the French leader added.

    Calls to boycott French goods are already growing in the Arab world and beyond after Macron criticised Islamists and vowed not to “give up cartoons” depicting the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

    Macron’s initial comments, on Wednesday, had come in response to the beheading of a teacher, Samuel Paty, outside his school in a suburb outside Paris earlier this month, after he had shown the blasphemous cartoons during a class he was leading on free speech.

    With the French president pledging to fight “Islamist separatism”, which he said was threatening to take control in some Muslim communities around France, hashtags such as the #BoycottFrenchProducts in English and the Arabic #ExceptGodsMessenger trended across countries, including Pakistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

  • French president refuses to condemn blasphemous caricatures of Holy Prophet (PBUH)

    French President Emmanuel Macron has defended the decision by Charlie Hebdo magazine to re-publish blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), saying “we have freedom of expression and freedom of belief”.

    But Macron, speaking on a visit to Lebanon on Tuesday, said it was incumbent on French citizens to show civility and respect for each other, and avoid a “dialogue of hate”.

    “It’s never the place of a president to pass judgment on the editorial choice of a journalist or newsroom, never. Because we have freedom of the press,” Macron said.

    The infamous French magazine is republishing the offensive caricatures, which unleashed a wave of anger in the Muslim world, to mark the start of the trial of alleged accomplices in the militant attack against it in 2015.

    Most cartoons were first published by a Danish newspaper in 2005 and then by Charlie Hebdo a year later.

    “We will never lie down. We will never give up,” Editor Laurent Sourisseau wrote in a piece to accompany the front cover that will be published in print on Wednesday.

    Twelve people, including some of the magazine’s cartoonists, were killed when Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo and sprayed the building with automatic gunfire.

    The Kouachi brothers and a third gunman who killed five people in the 48 hours that followed the Charlie Hebdo massacre were shot dead by police in different stand-offs, but 14 of their alleged accomplices go on trial on Wednesday.

    The decision to republish the offensive cartoons will be seen by some as a defiant gesture in defence of free expression.

    But others may see it as a renewed provocation by a magazine that has long courted controversy with its satirical attacks on religion.

    After the 2006 publication of the cartoons, people online warned the weekly would pay for its mockery. For Muslims, any depiction of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is blasphemous.

  • Hamza Ali Abbasi urges people to rise above sectarian, political biases

    Hamza Ali Abbasi urges people to rise above sectarian, political biases

    Following the killing of an elderly man during the hearing of a blasphemy case against him at the Peshawar Judicial Complex on Wednesday, Hamza Ali Abbasi has urged authorities and the government “to take decisive action against individuals/organisations who are glorifying murderers”.

    “If we don’t legally/ideologically tackle them now, very dark times await us,” said Abbasi.

    The actor also urged his followers to “rise above sectarian and political biases and see Islam for [what] it really is”.

    Abbasi condemned the unfortunate incident and said that “if you support murder and oppression in the name of Allah, his Deen and his last Prophet (PBUH)…then know that you are among those evil people who knowingly attribute lies to Allah.”

    Later, Hamza emphasized his stance further, by penning a detailed note on his religious views, urging everyone to rise about sectarian, political and emotional biases.

    When someone criticised Hamza for “corrupting people around with your superficial Islamic knowledge”, Hamza said that he is merely a student of Islam.

    While Hamza condemned the incident, Shahroz Sabzwari posted a picture of the alleged killer with the caption ‘Salute Ghazi’.

    However, most Twitter users agreed with Hamza’s point of view.

    https://twitter.com/_lezayy/status/1288574028479901699?s=20

    The incident

    According to details, 47-year-old Tahir Ahmed Naseem, a resident of Pishtakhara, appeared before the court for the hearing of a blasphemy case against him when a man barged in and opened fire on him.

    The 24-year-old shooter, Khalid, was arrested by the police on the spot.

  • Fact Check: Notification asking barbers’ not to style customers’ beards is fake

    Fact Check: Notification asking barbers’ not to style customers’ beards is fake

    Claim: A notification has been issued claiming that the barbers are now forbidden from styling their customers’ beard

    Fact: This was a fake notification according to the Balochistan Government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani

    A notification stating that barbers who style their customer’s beards will be charged with blasphemy is doing the rounds on social media.

    However, Spokesperson of the Balochistan Government, Liaquat Shahwani said that the notification is fake.

    “Balochistan Govt has got nothing to do with personal matters of citizens”, wrote Shahwani on Twitter.

    Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Rukhsana Kausar had tabled a resolution in the provincial house of Punjab seeking a ban on beard styling and action against men with fashionable beards as well as their barbers. However, it was never implemented.

    VERDICT: FALSE

  • Elderly blasphemy accused shot dead in court

    Elderly blasphemy accused shot dead in court

    An elderly man was killed during the hearing of a blasphemy case against him at the Peshawar Judicial Complex on Wednesday.

    A case had been registered against the deceased under blasphemy laws. The accused was brought to court from Peshawar Central Jail.

    Tahir Ahmed Naseem, 47, a resident of Pishtakhara, appeared before the court of Judge Shaukatullah when a man barged in and opened fire on him.

    He was a US citizen and the US State Department’s Twitter account for South Asia tweeted about the incident.

    “During the hearing of the case, the complainant said that the accused was an Ahmadi and asked him to recite the Kalima-e-Tayyaba,” according to a lawyer who was present in the courtroom at the time of the incident. He added that the complainant then fired at the elderly man and killed him.

    The 24-year-old shooter, Khalid, was arrested by the police on the spot. He is said to be a resident of Board Bazaar.

    The judicial complex is situated in a high-security zone on the main Khyber Road in the cantonment area where the provincial assembly building, the Peshawar High Court, chief minister’s secretariat and Governor House are also situated. Security at the main gate and inside the judicial complex is also high.

    Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mohammad Ali Gandapur and SSP (Operations) Mansoor Aman visited the courtroom where the man was killed.

    “At the moment we have little information but we have started investigation into the killing,” the CCPO said. Aman added that the weapon has also been recovered.

    Police shifted the body of the deceased to the Khyber Medical University for post-mortem.

    They said a first information report (FIR) had been registered against the deceased in 2018.

    According to the FIR, the complainant alleged that the deceased belong to the Ahmadi community and “befriended him on Facebook” and in subsequent conversations, claimed that he was the “fourteenth Mujaddid”.

    “He then invited me to have a discussion with him at a mall in the city where he started talking about his belief,” the complainant said in the FIR, going on to make more allegations.

    The deceased was charged under Section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), Section 295-B (defiling etc. of the Holy Quran), Section 295-C (use of derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad PBUH) and Section 298 (uttering words etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

  • PTI leader seeks blasphemy case against Khawaja Asif for stressing equal rights for minorities

    PTI leader seeks blasphemy case against Khawaja Asif for stressing equal rights for minorities

    A local leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from Narowal has filed a complaint seeking registration of a blasphemy case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Khawaja Asif, who has been accused of “speaking against Islam” on the floor of the National Assembly (NA).

    Asif, while speaking on a point of order last week, had said that a “planned campaign against minorities” was being run on social media in retaliation to the Indian atrocities against Muslims in occupied Kashmir. “If minorities don’t feel safe in Pakistan then it is a matter of shame for us. It is our responsibility to protect their places of worship,” he had said while claiming that some objectionable caricatures had been made on social media targeting the minorities.

    He had also discussed the construction of Islamabad’s first Hindu temple, which has for now been halted, leading to a debate in the Lower House.

    “His words are against the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah, and are tantamount to blasphemy against Islam,” Advocate Qamar Riaz stated in his complaint to Zafarwal police against Asif, whom the complainant claims said that no religion was superior to the other.

    “This is a grave crime according to the Shariah, in which he [Asif] has declared Muslims and infidels equal,” Riaz stated.

    The PTI leader quoted a few verses from the Holy Quran in his application too. “Asif committed blasphemy in the light of those verses and hurt the sentiments of all Muslims,” he said, requesting the police to register a case against the PML-N lawmaker.

    According to reports, the police have not yet registered a case and orders from Narowal DPO Zulfiqar Ahmed are awaited.

    Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Science & Technology Fawad Chaudhry has supported the stance of Khawaja Asif regarding construction of temple in Islamabad, saying that Pakistan’s constitution guarantees equal freedom to all religions.

    “Those who are issuing Fatwas on Khawaja Asif’s statement are projecting the thinking of Indian extremists and [Indian Prime Minister] Modi, which needs to be rejected outright,” he said.