Pakistan urges UN General Assembly to take notice of insults to Prophet Muhammad

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan on Friday urged the UN General Assembly to take notice of the recent insulting remarks against Prophet Muhammad by two officials of the India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The country's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari spoke with President of UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid over the phone and apprised him of the derogatory and offensive remarks made by BJP officials against Prophet Muhammad.

“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,” 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, triggering a wave of condemnation at home and from the Islamic world.

On Sunday, the BJP suspended Sharma's membership and expelled Jindal from the party, citing comments he made about Islam on social media.