MAKKAH: Prime Minister Imran Khan stressed upon the urgent need to reinvigorate the OIC platform to address plights of the Muslim communities across the world and expedite effective measures to delink Islam from terrorism in the eyes of western countries. Speaking at the 14th Summit of OIC in Makkah, the prime minister called on the OIC to stand up against the oppression of Palestinians, Kashmiris and Muslims in the world.
He also expressed discontentment over the silence by the platform over mocking of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). “The OIC needs to stand for the sentiments of the Muslim world and make it known to the world how much love and respect we have for our Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him),” the prime minister said.
The prime minister further said the blasphemous acts against the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) in the western world was the failure of the OIC for not being able to explain to them the love and affection the Muslims have for him.
“It is up to us to explain to the western people the amount of pain they cause us when they ridicule or mock our Holy Prophet. I want to use this forum to talk to the OIC about explaining to the West that their idea of freedom of expression hurts the sentiments of Muslims across the globe. Just the way the Jewish community has made no space for error when it comes to the Holocaust,” PM Imran said.
“The Kashmiris are making a political struggle for their freedom and they must be given their right to self-determination,” he added.
Moreover, he said, the western world has equated Islam with terrorism which had done a tremendous disservice to the Muslim community. “Religion has nothing to do with terrorism. No religion allows the killing of innocent human beings… This has led to Islamophobia. The moment that is referred to define terrorism, the people in the west could not distinguish between a moderate Muslim and a radical Muslim,” the prime minister added.
Suspicions, he further said, has been raised against the whole Muslim world. “The shooting of 50 Muslims in two New Zealand’s mosques happened because they could not understand that Islam had nothing to do with terrorism,” he added.
Terming the phenomena of blasphemy and Islamophobia in the west as a failure of the OIC, he pointed out that the Organization’s “inability has also led to delegitimizing the Muslim political freedom struggles, which were termed as ‘Islamic radicalism’.”
The prime minister stressed the need for the Muslim world to use the OIC platform to “delink terrorism with Islam”.
The prime minister further said the Muslim world was not paying much attention to science and technology despite being on the verge of another industrial revolution with the artificial intelligence and blockchain new technologies coming in.
PM Khan said the people of Indian occupied Kashmir had been carrying out their political struggle for freedom but after 9/11, it was also dubbed as ‘Islamic radicalism and terrorism’. Similarly, he said Israel started oppressing the Palestinians calling their freedom movement as ‘Islamic terrorism’.The premier reiterated that there is no solution to the Palestine issue except the two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.
Moreover, he said the people of Indian occupied Kashmir have not been given their right to self-determination as had been guaranteed by the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions. agencies