Pakistani President Arif Alawi demanded yesterday, Saturday, France to desist from entrenching discriminatory positions against Muslims with laws aimed at combating the so-called "extremism".
Alawi stressed that Pakistan sends a message to France and the West that belittling the Prophet Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - under the pretext of freedom of expression is an insult to the entire Muslim community.
In a speech delivered during a seminar on religious freedom and minority rights in Islamabad, the Pakistani president referred to the controversial bill presented by French President Emmanuel Macron last year to fight the so-called "Islamic isolationism."
He said, "Paris needs to bring people together instead of attacking Islam in a certain way to create dissonance and prejudice in society."
On January 24, a special committee in the French National Assembly (Parliament) approved a controversial bill of principles promoting respect for the values of the Republic, which was first known as "combating Muslims living isolated from society."
The bill faces criticism such as that it targets Muslims in France and almost imposes restrictions on all aspects of their lives, and seeks to show some issues that rarely occur as if they are a chronic problem.
It provides for the imposition of censorship of mosques and the associations responsible for their management, and monitoring of the financing of Muslim civil organizations.
It also imposes restrictions on the freedom of families to provide education for their children at home in countries where wearing the headscarf is prohibited in pre-university education institutions.