Growing incidents of Islamophobia globally: Alvi stresses need to jointly address underlying reasons thru OIC

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has underlined the need to identify and collectively address the underlying reasons for rising incidents of Islamophobia across the globe through the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The president expressed these views while talking to Pakistan’s ambassador/permanent representative-designate to OIC Jeddah, Syed Mohammad Fawad Sher, who called on him at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Monday. He said that the OIC was the collective voice of the Muslim Ummah.

Talking to the ambassador-designate, the president said that the OIC should take effective steps for the protection of the fundamental human rights of Muslim minorities across the globe.

He further said that the world should take notice of rising incidents of violence against minorities, especially Muslims, in India. He said that Indian Hindutva ideology should be discouraged worldwide.

He expressed his hope that all the brotherly Muslim member states of the OIC would be able to make a positive development toward the resolution of the Kashmir issue and address the plight of the people of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The president expressed his concern over Israel’s violence and illegal actions against innocent Palestinians, adding that such actions were against humanitarian norms, human rights, and international law. He said that there could not be permanent peace in the Middle East unless the issue of Palestine was resolved.

The president said that Pakistan was working for the promotion of science and technological cooperation among OIC countries through the OIC Standing Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH).

“Pakistan can offer online education and IT skills to member countries through Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and Virtual University (VU)’s educational modules,” he added.

He said that almost 9,000 foreign students had benefitted from VU and this number could be increased with further collaboration with Islamic countries in the education sector.

The president also asked the ambassador-designate to work for enhancing trade among the member countries of OIC.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022