KARACHI:
In the recently held 74th UNGA sessions, PM Imran Khan expressed his concerns over the ever-growing scourge of Islamophobia. He claimed that Muslims are increasingly falling victims to heinous crimes in various parts of the world. It is therefore evident that Islamophobic sentiment are continuously brewing in the West.
While anti-Muslim policies are being promoted by the Indian state in the subcontinent, the hatred for the Muslims in the West is stirred by the atrocious and vicious activities perpetuated by militant groups in the name of Islam. The brutality carried out by terrorist organisations have forced an extreme perspective of Islam to penetrate the grassroots of the international order thereby affected the perception of non-Muslims in the West. Such distorted perception creates a toxic narrative that portrays Muslims as violent and aggressive, and Islam as backward and evil. Such a situation has emphasised the need to address the rising sentiments of Islamophobia through establishing a channel of dialogue between the subcontinent and the Western world. Clear and direct communication will help eradicate many misconceptions that are stirred up to portray Islam in a negative light. It is important for the West to understand that these extremist organisations do not represent the majority of Muslims around the world. Instead, they do not even constitute 10% of the Muslim population.
In reality, such groups have gained maximum advantage and capitalised over the miserable socio-economic and political conditions across the Muslim world. The West on the other hand has failed to destroy states like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq in the name of nation-building and democracy. Most importantly, the West should also realise that by fueling offensive caricatures of Islam, they end up making matters worse by igniting their emotions and forcing such extremism.
Hadia Mukhtar
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2020.
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