Pakistan urges UN General Assembly to take notice of blasphemy by Indian politicians

ISLAMABAD (AA): Pakistan has urged the UN General Assembly to take notice of the recent insulting remarks against Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) by two officials of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari spoke with the President of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid over phone and apprised him of the derogatory and offensive remarks made by BJP officials against Prophet Muhammad 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 (UN General Assembly president) to take cognizance of this abhorrent development amidst growing hate speech and rising Islamophobia in India,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Referring to the muted response of the Indian leadership on the incident, the Foreign Minister noted that silence could be taken as complicity, and could lead to further incitement to violence, communal discord and hate incidents,” it added.

Zardari said he is expecting from the forum of the UN to be utilized for “constructive debate among member states, also with a view to redressing this issue that has caused such pain and resentment among the Muslims.”

Last week, India’s ruling BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal, the party’s Delhi media head, made insulting remarks about Prophet Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him, triggering a wave of condemnation at home and from the Islamic world.