By Our Diplomatic
Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Sunday has rejected the Indian propaganda against Pakistanis residing in France by spreading fake news through ‘media and dummy Twitter accounts’.
Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, the spokesperson of the Foreign Office (FO), said in a statement today that they have noticed some fake news with regard to the Pakistani diasporas in France being spread by some sections of Indian media and dummy Twitter accounts.
“The baseless and misleading information is patently a handiwork of Indian anti-Pakistan propaganda machine working overtime.”
He clarified that Pakistani diaspora in France is law-abiding and contributing positively to the French economy. Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri added that there are no complaints from them of difficulties in the aftermath of the recent developments.
As Muslims across the world protest and broaden their calls for a boycott of French products over comments by President Emmanual Macron about Islam and depictions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), hashtags with a different message were trending in Hindu-majority India, a so-called secular state.
#IStandWithFrance and #WeStandWithFrance were among the top trends on Indian Twitter on Monday and Tuesday, with thousands of Indian users expressing their solidarity with France.
Macron has sparked outrage across the Muslim world by accusing French Muslims of “separatism” and describing Islam as “a religion in crisis all over the world”.
The matter escalated after Macron said his country would not “renounce the caricatures” of Prophet Muhammad in the wake of the killing of a French teacher who showed them to his class. That led to outrage in the Muslim world, with protesters in several Muslim-majority nations, including Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh, calling for a boycott of French goods and demanding the expulsion of the French ambassadors to their capitals. However, in India, where critics say anti-Muslim sentiments have intensified since the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, many rallied behind the French leader.
“Tolerance should be secular too. #IStandWithFrance. Well done French President,” tweeted Parvesh Sahib Singh, a BJP member of parliament.
Earlier this year, India received five French-made Rafale fighter jets, the first batch of a controversial $9.4bn deal with France signed in 2016.
Other hashtags related to Macron’s remarks that trended on Indian Twitter on Tuesday included #WellDoneMacron and #MacronTHEHERO.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been accused of pursuing anti-Muslim policies, with a controversial citizenship law that excludes the community being the most recent.
The Indian government defends the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), saying it aims to protect persecuted minorities in neighbouring Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Protests over the law earlier this year led to the worst religious violence in New Delhi in decades, killing dozens of people, most of them Muslims, and displacing thousands.
Many Muslims have been charged under a stringent anti-terror law following the Delhi violence, jailed and denied bail.
