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    Pakistan maintains stoic silence over controversial picture of Prophet in Chinese state-run TV

    Synopsis

    Number of Muslim majority countries including China's all-weather ally Pakistan is maintaining a stoic silence over this unlike protests against France, ET has gathered.

    uyghur-gettyGetty Images
    Ethnic Uyghur men are seen in the street at a local market on July 1, 2017 in the old town of Kashgar, in the far western Xinjiang province, China.
    New Delhi: In a major embarassment Chinese state-run television has broadcast a controversial picture of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad but Beijing’s all-weather ally Pakistan is maintaining a stoic silence over the issue.

    Number of Muslim majority countries including China's all-weather ally Pakistan is maintaining a stoic silence over this unlike protests against France, ET has gathered. Pakistan had not witnessed any protests till date over treatment meted out to Uyghurs by the Chinese Communist Party.
    The Chinese state-run TV channel China Central Television (CCTV) has recently broadcasted a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad. Arslan Hidayat, an Uyghur Activist, tweeted a video of a Chinese TV series depicting a scene of an Arab ambassador visiting China during the rule of Tang dynasty. The Arab ambassador can be seen in that video presenting a painting of the Prophet Muhammad to the Chinese emperor.

    The fact that the portrait of the Prophet was shown openly in a TV show has taken netizens by surprise in China, ET has gathered. Netizens have been asking whether it is blasphemous to show Prophet Muhammad’s paintings so brazenly in a TV show.

    In fact, some Netizens have been wondering whether the Muslim world will now boycott Chinese goods after Prophet Muhamed was displayed in the TV series amid large scale reports of Chinese repression of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

    The threat from rise of radicalism in Europe was emphasised during the Indian Foreign Secretary’s interactions in Berlin on Monday. Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla is understood to have told his German interlocutors that terror attacks in France is a threat to common democratic values and freedom of expression.

    “India has strongly condemned these acts of terror and expressed solidarity with President Macron and the people of France. The terror attacks in France vindicate our long term assertion that terror knows no boundaries. Unfortunately the terrorists are united in purpose and action while we the victims are yet to be so. Ironically some countries who are the fountainhead of terror are practicing dissimulation and claiming to be victims of terror to gain international sympathy. We should be aware of these moves and learn to call a spade a spade,” Shringla is understood to have told his German interlocutors.

    He further pointed out, “Presently terrorism is strengthened by the use of sophisticated networks both underground and on the Internet. It enjoins upon all of us, likeminded countries, to work together to disrupt these networks and ensure that terror doesn’t succeed. There can be no justification for terror under any circumstances. But we note with some satisfaction that the world is increasingly realizing it and working with us on this.”


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    ( Originally published on Nov 02, 2020 )
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