In an interview with CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan said he had been trying to tell the world community that the Muslims living in the western countries are the ones who suffer from Islamophobia, and “we regularly hear about these incidents and many of them are not reported and our embassies tell us about those. So this gap needs to be closed”.
The prime minister highlighted the grave issue of Islamophobia in the western world, which recently claimed the lives of four members of a Pakistan-origin family in Ontario last week.
“Everyone is shocked [in Pakistan], because we saw the family picture, and so a family being targeted like that has had a deep impact in Pakistan,” PM Khan said.
The prime minister said the use of the term “Islamic radicals” indicates there is something wrong with the religion, which radicalises people. Contrary to this, terrorism has no religion as extremists are found in every society, he added.
Replying to a question about what should the governments do to shut down hate material, the prime minister called for strict action against online hate because such websites divide humanity by creating hatred through hate material.
He further said that he “mostly agrees” with Trudeau and his position on extremism, but also expressed concern about some Canadian laws that he believed were contributing to Islamophobia.
He asked as to why it became a big issue when someone wears a hijab (head scarf) or grows a beard in the west. “People objecting to hijab and a beard is quite bizarre for me. In liberal democracies, why is this an issue?”
He described Quebec’s Bill 21 — which banned public servants, including teachers and police officers from wearing religious symbols at work — as a form of “secular extremism” that led to intolerance against Muslims.
“I find this law secular extremism as it really is against, you see the whole idea behind secularism is liberalism, you want human beings to be basically free on how and the way they want to dress up as long as it doesn’t cause pain or hurt others. This is how I understand how liberalism is. If some cover their hair or their head, why has it become such a big issue,” he contended.
