ISLAMABAD: President Dr. Arif Alvi on Friday urged the international community to take serious steps for combating Islamophobia and discouraging hate speech as the two promoted intolerance and hatred in the societies. He emphasized the need to effectively highlight the atrocities being committed by India against the Muslims of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) at the international fora to expose its real face to the world. The president was talking to Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Munir Akram, who called on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. Dr. Alvi stressed the need to showcase the contributions made by Pakistan in the war on terror as well as at the international fora. Pakistan, he said, had suffered a lot at the hands of terrorists as it lost over 70,000 people and its economy suffered losses of $150 billion. He stated that the world must acknowledge Pakistan’s contribution to the war on terror as it successfully defeated terrorism by offering enormous sacrifices. The country’s success story should be properly projected. President Alvi highlighted that COVID-19 posed unprecedented challenges to the developing countries with economic, financial, and health implications, and the Prime Minister’s Global Initiative for Debt Relief was a timely call to relieve their stretched resources during the pandemic. He underscored that climate change was a major challenge and Pakistan was taking effective measures to plant trees under the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Project to help mitigate its impact. The president said the world had now recognized Pakistan’s stance that conflict in Afghanistan could only be settled through political means and in that regard the country had played a significant role in facilitating the Afghan peace process.