Reema Shaukat
As the PM Imran Khan is in USA for past few days to not only speak at United Nations General Assembly, 2019 session for member states but to highlight challenges Pakistan is presently facing across the globe. Apart from diplomatic efforts of Pakistan to raise Kashmir issue on every platform, political leadership is utilizing all channels to play its crucial role for Kashmir and all tests Muslim ummah is facing world-wide. Be it is talk about Islamophobia in Western world, economic conditions of Pakistan and other countries or conflict among Middle Eastern countries, Pakistan is trying its best to play vital role in a positive manner. In the past few years, Islamophobia is coming as a challenge for Muslim world from West and they need to play constructive role to show the rest of world that Islam is not terror but a religion of love, peace and humanity for all. President Trump in his speeches often raise concerns about Islamophobia and racism but as such no positive step are taken rather Muslims anywhere in the globe are targeted for their religion. During the recent sessions of UNGA, side-line meetings, conferences, debates are also part of agenda of different countries. Pakistan and Turkey co-hosted a round table discussion on hate speech in one of meetings.
The PM along with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressed the conference, which also featured a Key Note address by High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC) Miguel Ángel Moratinos. PM Imran Khan in his address raised concerns on growing amount of discrimination and violence based on religion and belief and called upon the need for addressing “both the drivers and consequences of these phenomena”. PM also cautioned against the denigration of revered personalities under the guise of “freedom of expression and opinion”. PM reiterated that the world must understand Muslim sensitivities for Islam and the reverence for Prophet Muhammad PBUH. He also emphasized on the need for effective measures to be put in place so that hate speech, especially that which stems from Islamophobia, can be countered. PM stressed that “desperate human beings” throughout history have committed what are known as suicide attacks. Before 9/11, 75 per cent of suicide attacks were by Tamil Tigers who were Hindus. No one talked about Hinduism having anything to do with suicide attacks. Likewise, when Japanese suicide bombers attacked American ships during World War II, no one blamed their religion because religion has nothing to do with terrorism. But rather terrorism is connected to politics and generally there are politically perceived injustices that produce desperate people. Nowadays we keep hearing about radical Islam. There is only one Islam. He said that the UN, as a platform, provides the right space to evolve an informed discourse on countering hate speech.
President Erdogan in his address said that hate speech “emerges before worst crimes against humanity” and observed that Muslims remain the most vulnerable community to hate speech in the world. He cited incidents in India where Muslims had been lynched for eating beef. He also highlighted that Kashmir has been turned into an open prison and we fear blood shed there. Following the session, the prime minister announced the formation of an English language channel dedicated to confronting the challenges posed by Islamophobia and setting the record straight on our great religion in partnership with Turkey and Malaysia.
Though enough is not done by Muslims to counter western propaganda about Islam. Some say that had those 9/11 attacks revenge was limited to the doers only and punishing them, then war against terrorism had not been there for millions of Muslims to suffer. Unfortunately, West has created this sense of Islamophobia in its societies over the years. Islamophobia is generally defined as the fear, hatred or prejudice against, the religion Islam and its followers Muslims, especially when it is seen as a geopolitical force or perceived as the source of terrorism. History suggests that the Islamophobia existed before 9/11 but this terminology got more influential in West in past one and half decade. Several researchers doing research on this particular subject have mentioned that this terminology was found in 1991 in one of the US fortnightly newspaper, ‘Insight News’ while many have found out this lexis was reconsidered orientalism in 1985.
History says that white supremacy has roots in scientific racism and it often relies on pseudoscientific arguments. Several movements in past have supported white supremacy and they have opposed members of all races belonging to any religion. This white supremacy notion is not limited to any particular country and unfortunately many examples around us tell how Muslims are victims of this. Be it is Punish a Muslim Day in UK, blasphemy in Denmark, women targeted for wearing hijab in France or mass shootings in USA, Muslims are victims of such heinous acts. In USA we can often find such injustices on the basis of religion and not to forget that President Trump used this notion of racism against Muslims to win his presidential elections.
There is continuous need for efforts to unify the Ummah and devise a strategy to know the root causes of growing Islamophobia in West and its implications for Muslims around the world as many Muslim communities living in different countries strongly believed there was a real threat to their safety which understandably caused fear, offense and worry. Particularly after war against terrorism and in Middle East crises where millions of Muslims had to migrate to different countries, western societies though accepted them as migrants but perceived all of them and Islam as a threat to their society. That’s why whenever something bad happens in the world, it is often linked to Muslims. It is need of the hour that peace literature be produced or if there comes an anti-Islamic literature that must be countered through strong narrative and literature. Muslims have to come in leadership role in western countries to have their strong say at higher level and indeed they can play a positive role in eliminating such phobias through their goodwill gestures. Research suggests that when it comes to religion and culture, politics is often overtaken and religious affinities and cultural similarities become a root cause of tension between Muslims and western world. Same goes for Islamophobia where political interests are often dominated. Hence to counter such negative elements and propaganda in West, Muslims have to play a significant role through their positive actions, deeds and gestures so that they are not considered as threat anywhere.
