Daily Times

The Foreign Office condemned “fake news” by Indian media outlets regarding the Pakistani community in France following recent incidents including the display of blasphemous cartoons of Holy Prophet (PBUH), beheading of a middle school teacher in Paris and murder of three people in a Nice church, APP reported on Sunday.

FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, in a statement, said that Pakistan has “noticed some fake news with regard to the Pakistani diaspora in France being spread by some sections of Indian media and dummy Twitter accounts”.

He was referring to tweets by a Twitter account, pretending to be run by the Pakistan embassy in France, which claimed that the French authorities were deporting Pakistani citizens following Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks regarding President Emanuel Macron. Prime Minister Imran had denounced what he called was “encouragement of Islamophobia” by Macron.

“The baseless and misleading information is patently a handiwork of Indian anti-Pakistan propaganda machine working overtime,” FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chadhri said in his statement issued. “The Pakistani diaspora in France is law-abiding and contributing positively to the French economy.”

Chaudhri said that there had been no complaints of Pakistani community members facing difficulties in the aftermath of aforementioned incidents. He added that the official Twitter account of Pakistan’s embassy in France @PakinFrance could be followed for accurate information.