By Chathushka Perera
Islamabad, Pakistan (CWBN)_ As a political crisis begins to edge him off his seat as premier, Imran Khan lashes out against French President, Emmanuel Macron, and his recent remarks reinforcing the state’s fundamentally ingrained principles of liberty.
Macron’s remarks were made in support of middle school civics teacher, Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by an 18 year old Muslim-Chechen, in the suburbs of Paris (16th October), after Paty had shown the students caricatures of Islamic Prophet Muhammad that led to the murderous attacks against Charlie Hebdo magazine, during a lesson on freedom of speech.
Khan tweeted that, “This is a time when President Macron could have put a healing touch and denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation and marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation.”
The premier’s preachy comments follow the comments made by the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inquiring about Macron’s mental health, and the subsequent boycott of French products, which was supported by many Muslim states, however, the fact remains that neither Khan nor Erdogan stand at a moral high ground with respect to their track records and are likely using the situation to distract their peoples from domestic realities.
In the recent weeks Khan’s tenure as prime minister were brought under threat when the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), a coalition of a large number of opposition parties, began a campaign against him, despite the support he receives from the military. However, Khan is now being alleged of orchestrating the abduction of the Police Chief of the Sindh and forcing his signature on a warrant for the arrest of MP Muhammad Safdar. The arrest was later carried out just hours after the second anti-government rally was carried out in Karachi.
Moreover, the Muslim majority has reported of religious discrimination against Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Shias and Ahmadis. In many cases it has led to the loss of lives and forced displacements.
Turkey’s generally unstable economy began to plummet under Ergodan’s leadership long before the Covid-19 outbreak. Since the 7.47% growth in 2017, the local GDP has come down to mere 0.88% in 2019, the longest fall in over five years. Erdogan’s decisions and policies have isolated the Turkish people from the European Union and Turkey’s NATO allies.
Erdogan also maintains a close relationship with the ideology surrounding Turkish nationalism and the Muslim Brotherhood, and has taken steps to break down the secular nature of modern Turkish institutions.
The Muslim Brotherhood was initially responsible for several assassinations and acts of terrorism in Egypt, prior to securing seats in the Egyptian Parliament. The group is also responsible for several defector terrorist factions such as Hamas in Palestine and Mujahideen in Afghanistan.
In the most recent developments, Erdogan authorised the conversion of the infamous cathedral, Hagia Sophia, into a mosque. The move was denounced at an international level.
In a more serious note, Erdogan may have instigated the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict, which began just weeks after the Turkish Army engaged in joint military exercises, as a part of Turkey’s bid to take access gas and oil reserves, and has a deafening human rights track record with regard to crackdowns, which led to the arrest of a 16 year old minor.
