The Prime Minister today spoke at an event in New York at the UN on countering hate speech and Islamophobia. Noting the growing incidence of discrimination and violence based on religion and belief, the Prime Minister underscored the importance of addressing both the drivers and consequences of these phenomena. The Prime Minister rejected attempts to equate Islam with terrorism, noting that such self-serving approaches were dangerous and therefore should be eschewed. The Prime Minister underlined that the United Nations provided an important platform to evolve an informed discourse on countering these phenomenon, noting the need for more efforts by Muslim leaders to explain why attempts to denigrate revered Muslim personalities especially Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) caused pain and offense to billions of Muslims. The Prime Minister also called for promoting greater understanding and tolerance among and between communities across the world. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey also spoke at the occasion. Among other things, the President echoed the concerns and called for a balance between exercising the right to freedom of expression and freedom of religion. The Turkish President also expressed his concern over the situation in occupied Jammu & Kashmir reiterating his call for a just solution of this longstanding dispute. The High Representative of the UN Alliance for Civilizations drew attention to existence of conflicts and disputes that lay at some of these phenomena and called for addressing them. He also commended Pakistan for hosting the important event. The event was co-hosted by Pakistan and Turkey. ***
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