Islamabad, Feb 16 (PTI) Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday blamed state policies, inflammatory remarks by public office holders and misuse of social media for religious intolerance and violence worlwide, amid growing incidents of mob lynching in recent weeks in the country.
Addressing the 8th meeting of the Istanbul Process, themed ‘10th anniversary of UN Human Rights Council resolution 16/18: Looking Back and Moving Forward’ via video link, Qureshi said that “while people of every faith had been victims of these scourges, Muslims and Islam had borne their main brunt.” He said that “securitisation of state policies, deployment of incendiary rhetoric by public office holders, and misuse of social media platforms were among the main drivers of the growing incidents of religious intolerance, discrimination and violence worldwide.” His remarks came amid growing incidents of mob lynching in recent weeks in Pakistan.
On Saturday, a middle-aged mentally challenged man was stoned to death by a mob over charges of blasphemy in Khanewal district in Punjab province. The incident was a grim reminder of Sialkot lynching of Sri Lankan nation Priyantha Kumara, whose body was set on fire over allegations of blasphemy in December.
On Sunday, an enraged mob attacked and injured a Shia scholar for allegedly burning the pages of a religious book in Faislabad district in the province.
On Monday, a Christian man was killed and another injured in clashes between the two communities over an issue of playing loud music in the province.
Qureshi presented a three-pronged preventive and action-oriented strategy as a way forward to counter these contemporary menaces – reviewing discriminatory State laws, policies and practices; promoting inter-faith harmony, tolerance and peaceful co-existence, while building legal deterrence against hate speech; and concluding an international instrument that prohibits dissemination of ideas and expressions which incite acts of religious intolerance.
Nearly 200 participants from States, inter-governmental organisations, civil society, faith community, mainstream and social media attended the virtual meeting.
The hosting of this 8th Istanbul Process meeting signifies Pakistan’s resolve to foster dialogue, and encourage adoption of affirmative and regulatory measures as a bulwark against rising incidents of incitement to violence against people of faith, in line with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision, the Foreign Office said.
The meeting was hosted on a virtual platform by Pakistan from Geneva.
Pakistan was a key stakeholder in launching the Istanbul Process in July 2011, which is the implementation platform for resolution 16/18. Pakistan is part of the Quartet countries, along with Turkey, the UK and the US, which steer this Process, according to FO. PTI SH ZH ZH
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