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Pakistan’s FM plays down alleged persecution of Christians
[PRESSTV] Pak Foreign Minister Shah  Mehmood WormtongueQureshi has played down accusations of the persecution of Christians in Pakistain, saying there are "individual incidents," which can be compared to the growing number of knife crimes in the United Kingdom. Speaking at EU headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday, Qureshi said reports of religious minorities being targeted in Pakistain did not constitute a trend. "You can’t say this is a trend, no! Individual incidents can be quoted anywhere, [of] minorities being mistreated here, in Europe  ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum..., in Britannia," The Guardian quoted the top Pak diplomat as saying. "But I can assure you that Christians are very welcome [in Pakistain]. The Christian community in Pakistain is very positive and a very responsible community... We respect them and we want them to be there. We will do everything possible to protect them and we are," he said. The bigwig went on to say that the recent claims of persecution were an instance of "Western interests," which "want to paint Pakistain in a particular way." Qureshi, who met Jeremy Hunt, the British foreign secretary, in London last week, pointed to the UK’s own problems after the fatal stabbings of four people in four days put London’s knife crimes in the international spotlight last week. "I can quote you examples of how knife crime has gone up in Britannia that is a clear reflection of an increased intolerance within a society which has been so tolerant, so accommodating. So there are examples over here, and there could be some examples over there," Qureshi said. According to police data, a total of 40,829 attacks involving knives or sharp instruments took place in the United Kingdom in 2018. But there has been no data attaching those attacks to religion. Posted by: Fred 2019-06-26 |
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