President Arif Alvi urged France, on Saturday to desist from entrenching”discriminatory attitudes” against Muslims into laws aimed at fightingso-called extremism.
Paris needs to bring people together instead of stamping Islam in a certainmanner to create “disharmony and bias,” said Alvi, according to state-runRadio Pakistan.
Alvi was referring to a controversial bill introduced by French PresidentEmmanuel Macron last year to fight so-called “Islamist separatism.”
Addressing a seminar on religious freedom and minorities’ rights inIslamabad, he said Pakistan communicated to the West that blasphemy ofProphet Muhammad in the name of so-called freedom of expression isconsidered an insult to the entire Muslim community.
The bill is being criticized because it targets the Muslim community andimposes restrictions on almost every aspect of their lives.
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It provides for intervening in mosques and associations responsible for theadministration of mosques, as well as controlling the finances ofassociations and non-governmental organizations belonging to Muslims.
It restricts the education choices of the Muslim community by preventingfamilies from giving children home education.
The bill also prohibits patients from choosing doctors based on gender forreligious or other reasons and makes compulsory “secularism education” forall public officials.
