Qatar summons Indian envoy over insulting remarks on Prophet

By Ali Abo Rezeg

ANKARA (AA) – Qatar summoned the Indian ambassador on Sunday over insulting remarks on Islam's Prophet Muhammad by a spokesperson of the ruling party.

In a statement, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said it summoned the Indian envoy to voice “disappointment of Qatar and its total rejection and condemnation to the controversial remarks made by an official in the ruling party in India against Prophet Muhammad.”

Naveen Kumar Jindal, a spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party, made an offensive tweet on the Prophet against the backdrop of communal incidents, triggering a wave of condemnation at home and abroad.

According to the statement, Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi handed a note to the Indian envoy asserting that “these insulting remarks would lead to incitement of religious hatred, and offend more than two billion Muslims around the world”.

The statement welcomed a move by the Indian ruling party to suspend the spokesperson from “practicing his activities in the party.”

Doha is expecting “a public apology and immediate condemnation of these remarks,” via the Indian government, it added.