ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan has strongly condemned the publication of blasphemous caricatures in the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, and termed it as an attempt to create a divide among people and civilizations.
“Echoing the sentiments of the people of Pakistan, the President and the Prime Minister have strongly condemned the publication, which has caused great offence to Muslims by hurting their sentiments and religious sensibilities all over the world,” the Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said in a statement on Tuesday.
The spokesperson said that the National Assembly and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have passed resolutions condemning the blasphemous publication which has hurt the core belief of all Muslims.
“We believe that freedom of expression should not be misused as means to attack or hurt public sentiments or religious beliefs,” Aslam said.
Tasneem Aslam said that this is an attempt to divide peoples and civilizations. She called for a need to promote harmony among peoples and communities instead of reinforcing stereotypes and making people alienated in their own countries.
The Foreign Office spokesperson said that the Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has written a letter to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Iyad Madani recommending a legal action to seek an apology from the French magazine and joint action by the Ummah to get criminalization of all acts of Islamophobia.
OIC plans to sue Charlie Hebdo for offensive caricatures
A couple of days ago, the OIC secretary general Iyad Madani told media in Riyadh that the 57-nation organisation is planning to sue the French magazine for publishing the offensive caricatures.
The republication of cartoons of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) by Charlie Hebdo last week sparked intense condemnations across the Muslim world as the caricatures hurt the sentiments of Muslims.
The OIC secretary general condemned the new edition of Charlie Hebdo as “an idiotic step that requires necessary legal measures”.
“OIC is studying Europe and French laws and other available procedures to be able to take legal action against Charlie Hebdo,” the OIC secretary general said.
“If French laws allow us to take legal procedures against Charlie Hebdo, OIC will not hesitate to prosecute the French magazine,” he added.
