France summons Pakistan envoy to protest against statement made by President Arif Alvi

The French government has not taken kindly to Pakistani President Arif Alvi’s remark criticising the ‘New French Counter Radicalism Law’.

Alvi had said that the new French law, which supposedly cracks down on Islamic radicalism, stigmatises Muslims all over the world. However, he conveniently forgot about the blasphemy laws that are prevalent in Pakistan and has been used to target minorities.

“Muslims are for interfaith harmony, while West is practicing Islamophobia & France is passing regressive laws”,  Alvi had tweeted from his official Twitter handle. President Alvi also said that the French cartoon depicting Prophet Mohammad is an insult to all Muslims.

The French foreign ministry summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires to protest against Alvi’s remarks.

The French legislative assembly recently passed a new law to check the growing Islamic radicalisation in the country. The new law does not name any religion specifically, but Islam is at the forefront of scrutiny after the brutal murder of French school teacher Samuel Paty.

Samuel Paty was beheaded in October last year by his student Abdoullakh Abouyedovich Anzorov for showing a picture of Prophet Muhammad in his class and having an open discussion on the concept of freedom of speech and expression.
 
After Paty’s murder, the French people took to the streets and demanded a law to check the growing Islamic radicalisation in the country. France has been a victim of several terror attacks in the last few years and there is a growing consensus among the French that measures need to be taken to curb Islamic terror.

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