UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has urged the UN General Assembly not to be silent on the offensive remarks made by BJP officials in India last week, warning that silence on such issues could be mistaken for complicity.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid on Friday and apprised him of the derogatory remarks made by two senior officials of India’s ruling party BJP against the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).

Noting that such willful and deliberate provocation had deeply hurt the sentiments of billions of Muslims around the world, the foreign minister urged the UNGA president to “take cognizance of this abhorrent development amidst growing hate speech and rising Islamophobia in India,” said a statement issued in New York.

Referring to the muted response of the Indian leadership on the incident, he reminded the UNGA president that “silence could be taken as complicity, and could lead to further incitement to violence, communal discord and hate incidents”. The statement said the UNGA president underscored the impo­r­tant role of the General Assem­bly and the need for the membership to work together on these issues.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2022