Gulf Times

Monday, October 26, 2020 11

PAKISTAN

Khan slams Macron, calls for a

Facebook ban on Islamophobia
Reuters Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as blas-
Islamabad phemous. Macron said the teacher
was a hero and that Islamists were a
threat to the country.
world,” Khan added. that is encouraging hate, extremism radical extremist Muslim citizens
Khan’s comments follow a similar and violence across the world and and the mainstream Muslim citi-
broadside fired by Turkish President especially through the use of social zenry of Islam? We have seen how
Tayyip Erdogan against Macron, fol- media platforms including Face- marginalisation inevitably leads to

P
rime Minister Imran Khan said
yesterday that French Presi-
dent Emmanuel Macron has
“attacked Islam” by encouraging
the display of cartoons depicting the
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Khan’s comments come days after
Macron paid tribute to a French his-
tory teacher beheaded by a radical
who wanted to avenge the use of car-
toons depicting the Prophet Muham-
mad (PBUH) in a class on freedom of
expression.
“Sadly, President Macron has cho-
sen to deliberately provoke Muslims,
incl his own citizens, through encour-
aging the display of blasphemous car-
toons targeting Islam & our Prophet
PBUH,” Khan said on Twitter.
Muslims see any depiction of the
Khan said Macron could have
shown a “healing touch” to deny
space to extremists but had instead
“chosen to encourage Islamophobia
by attacking Islam rather than the
terrorists who carry out violence, be it
Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi
ideologists”.
France has in recent years wit-
nessed a series of violent attacks by
militants, including the 2015 Char-
lie Hebdo killings and bombings and
shootings in November 2015 at the
Bataclan theatre and sites around
Paris that killed 130 people.
“By attacking Islam, clearly with-
out having any understanding of
it, President Macron has attacked
& hurt the sentiments of millions
of Muslims in Europe & across the
lowing which France recalled its am-
bassador from Ankara.
The cartoons of the Prophet Mu-
hammad (PBUH), first published in
2005 by Danish newspaper Jyllands-
Posten, have stirred outrage and vio-
lent protests in Pakistan.
There were more protests last
month when the cartoons were re-
published by the French satirical
weekly Charlie Hebdo.
The prime minister yesterday
also wrote to Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg seeking the social media
platform to place a similar ban on
Islamophobia and hate against Is-
lam similar to the one that has been
put in place for Holocaust.
“I am writing to draw your atten-
tion to the growing Islamophobia
book. I appreciate your taking the
step to rightly ban any posting that
criticises or questions the Holo-
caust,” Khan wrote to Zuckerberg.
“However, today we are seeing a
similar pogrom against Muslims in
different parts of the world. Unfor-
tunately, in some states, Muslims
are being denied their citizenship
rights and their democratic personal
choices from dress to worship,” he
said.
“In France, Islam has been associ-
ated with terrorism and publication
of blasphemous cartoons targeting
Islam and our Holy Prophet (PBUH)
has been allowed. This will lead to
further polarisation and margin-
alisation of Muslims in France. How
will the French distinguish between
extremism — something the world
does not need,” he added.
“Given the rampant abuse and vil-
ification of Muslims on social media
platforms, I would ask you to place
a similar ban on Islamophobia and
hate against Islam for Facebook that
you have put in place for the Holo-
caust. The message of hate must be
banned in total — one cannot send
a message that while hate messag-
es against some are unacceptable,
these are acceptable against others.
Nor should the world have to wait
for a pogrom against Muslims, to be
completed before Islamophobia is
banned. This in itself is reflective of
prejudice and bias that will encour-
age further radicalisation,” the Pa-
kistani leader pointed out. Candid: Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Orange Line Metro Train

debuts in Lahore, finally
Internews
Lahore

P
unjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar yesterday in-
augurated the much-awaited Lahore’s Orange Line
Metro Train (OLMT).
Buzdar formally launched the project from Dera Gujran
Orange Line Metro station.
Orange Line is an automated rapid transit system in La-
hore and is Pakistan’s first metro in the entire country. It
spans 27.1km 25.4km of which is elevated and 1.72km un-
derground.
The line will be served by 26 stations and is expected to
handle 250,000 passengers daily. It is a part of the wider
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project and being fi-
nanced by both the governments of Pakistan and China.
The project was initiated in May 2014 while financing
for the project was secured in December 2015 when Chi-
na’s Exim Bank agreed to provide a soft loan of $1.55 bil-
lion for the project. The construction works on the project
began in October 2015. A man collecting a token from an automatic ticket vending machine at a station of
Speaking on the occasion, Buzdar said the mega the OLMT.
project is part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
and the provincial government made hectic efforts to
complete the project. “I thank the Chinese government
for their help and support in completion of the project,”
he stated.
The CM stated that Pakistan and China have good ties
and will continue to extend cooperation in other sectors.
He added that the service will benefit the people of La-
hore and address transport woes. “It will provide state-of-
the-art transport facilities to the people with low travel
cost,” Buzdar said.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to PM on Political Com-
munication Shahbaz Gill has said the government will pay
Rs12 billion as annual subsidy to operate the train service.
He stated that the operating cost of per ticket is Rs274
per ticket while the subsidy is Rs234.
“The Punjab government should declare it a day of
mourning as it is a failed project,” Gill remarked.
A few months ago, the senior officials of the Punjab gov-
ernment took a ride in the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train
that completed its high speed test run. The test run of the
train was conducted at the high speed of over 70km per A newly built Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT), a metro project planned under the China-Pakistan
hour and it was completed in 20 minutes. People inside a station. Economic Corridor, driving through on a track after its opening in Lahore yesterday. (AFP)

3 killed in Quetta
PDM’s power show in Quetta bomb explosion
CM directs police to At least three people were

install 10,000 cameras killed and six others wounded

yesterday when a bomb exploded
in the southwestern province of

across Karachi Balochistan, police said.

The explosion occurred in a
suburban neighbourhood in
Quetta, Balochistan’s capital that
Internews Cape Town has been ranked 19th, is home to several separatist and
Karachi Mexico 29th, Kuala Lumpur insurgencies.
38th, Houston 50th, Washington “Three dead bodies and six
52nd,and Delhi 71st. injured have been taken to

C
hief Minister of Sindh
province Murad Ali Shah
directed police to install
10,000 cameras at different spots
across Karachi, including its red
zones areas where criminal ac-
tivities take place frequently.
Addressing a meeting on law
and order at the CM House,
Shah said the city’s overall situ-
ation has considerably improved,
which can be gauged from the
fact that Karachi’s ranking in
the World Crime Index has gone
from sixth in 2014 to 103rd in
2020.
The World Crime Index sur-
veys crime levels of 396 interna-
tional cities. It had ranked Kara-
chi sixth in 2014, 10th in 2015,
26th in 2016, 47th in 2017, 50th in
2018, 61st and then 71st in 2019,
88th earlier this year and 103rd
by mid-October.
Sindh police chief IGP Mush-
taq Mahar told the meeting that
In order to further ameliorate
the security and safety situation
as well as the quality of life in
the port city, the chief minister
decided to start the implemen-
tation of the Safe City Project in
Karachi.
Murad said the city can be
made safer and more secure if the
Safe City Project is implemented
at the earliest. He told Mahar to
convene a meeting with the Na-
tional Radio and Telecom Cor-
poration next week for a detailed
discussion on the project’s tech-
nical and financial proposals.
The Safe City Project was
conceived in 2011, aiming at in-
stalling 10,000 high-powered
CCTV cameras across the city
in the first phase. The CM had
approved Rs10 billion for the
purpose but the project cost es-
calated to around Rs20 billion
later.
hospital,” Munir Ahmad, a Quetta
police official, told AFP.
Ahmad said the bomb had been
concealed in a motorcycle that
was parked at a vegetable market
in the Hazarganji neighbourhood.
An intelligence official in Quetta
confirmed details of the blast.
It occurred in a different part of
town to where thousands of anti-
government demonstrators were
gathering for a rally yesterday
as part of a series of protests
against Prime Minister Imran
Khan organised by an opposition
alliance.
No group immediately claimed
responsibility for the attack.
While the target was unclear,
Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) vice-president Maryam Nawaz (centre), who is also a frontline leader of the opposition Hazarganji is home to a large
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), gestures to supporters during an anti-government rally in Quetta yesterday. The PDM population of Hazaras, a mainly
organised a third rally of its ongoing campaign to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, Shia community that has been hit
accusing the security establishment of manipulating its ascension to power. Those who spoke on the occasion included Jamiat in the past.
Ulema Islam chief Fazlur Rehman, who heads the PDM; Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who spoke through Bordering Iran and Afghanistan,
a video link; PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who also spoke through a video link from London; and Maryam Nawaz. (AFP) Balochistan is the largest of
Pakistan’s four provinces.