On Sunday, the government of France officially raised its concerns with the Pakistani mission in Paris over the “insulting” remarks on President Emmanuel Macron by Shireen Mazari, the Minister for Human Rights in Imran Khan’s cabinet.
The Spokesperson of France’s Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs termed; the remarks as “deeply shocking” and said, “These despicable words are blatant lies, loaded with an ideology of hatred and violence.”
The official statement also read, “Such slanderous comments are disgraceful at such level of responsibility. We reject them strongly.” The concerns were raised; with the Pakistani Charge affairs in Paris asking Islamabad to rectify the statement; and return to the path of dialogue based on respect.
In the since-deleted tweet, the Pakistani Cabinet minister had shared a story, making disparaging remarks on French President Emmanuel Macron. She had written, “Macron is doing to Muslims what the Nazis did to Jews”.
The Embassy of France in Pakistan’s Twitter account then retweeted Shireen Mazari’s tweet and said, “Fake news and false accusation”.
This is to be noted that several protests have happened in Pakistan following the French government’s defence of the publication of cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad that led to several terror attacks in France.
Pakistan had also witnessed a massive protest by far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan blocking the way to the capital Islamabad. The demand of the protestors was the expulsion of the French envoy to Pakistan.
The Pakistani national assembly has even passed a resolution; to recall the Pakistani envoy to France, only to later discover; that Pakistan at present doesn’t have a full-fledged envoy to Paris.
