Islamabad, Feb 23 (UNI) The French foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned Pakistan's envoy to register its protest for the remarks made by Pakistan President Arif Alvi against a French bill that aims to crack down on 'radical Islam,' which he had alleged, stigmatises Muslims in general.
President Alvi had made those remarks on Saturday, wherein he had said, 'When you see that laws are being changed in favour of a majority to isolate a minority, that is a dangerous precedent,' in apparent reference to the French law.
Alvi had further said, 'When you insult the Prophet, you insult all Muslims, in apparent reference to the beheading of a French school teacher by an Islamist radical over caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), which led to the formulation of this new law.'
The French foreign ministry said that it had called in Pakistan's charge d'affaires to mark 'our surprise and our disapproval over Alvi's remarks given that the bill contains no discriminatory element,' the Dawn reported.
Pakistan was one of the several Muslim countries that saw angry anti-French protests in October last, over President Emmanuel Macron's defence of the right to show cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad.
Islamabad, at the moment, does not have an Ambassador in France.
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