Islamabad (Web Desk): The Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday said British Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s “discriminatory and xenophobic” remarks on Pakistani men paint a 'misleading' picture.
The British home secretary came under fire for her comments regarding British-Pakistani men.
During an interview with Sky News, Braveman had said that British-Pakistani men “hold cultural values at odds with British values”.
The UK minister was talking about plans to tackle child abuse when she singled out British-Pakistani men.
“[British-Pakistani men] see women in a demeaned, illegitimate way, and pursue an outdated and frankly heinous approach to the way we behave,” Braverman commented after she was informed that a Home Office report in 2020 concluded that most child sexual abuse gangs are made up of white men under the age of 30, and that there was not enough evidence to suggest members of grooming gangs were disproportionately more likely to be Asian or black.
While responding to Braveman's comments, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, during a weekly briefing, said that that the British home minister had “erroneously branded criminal behaviour of some individuals as a representation of the entire community”.
“She fails to take note of the systemic racism and ghettoisation of communities and omits to recognize the tremendous cultural, economic and political contributions that British Pakistanis continue to make in British society,” the FO spokesperson added.
The FO spokesperson also expressed deep concern over alarming rise in violence against Muslims in India, after latest such acts in eight states of the country.
She called on India to take demonstrable steps for protection of Muslims enabling them to practice their faith and hold accountable those responsible for such hateful acts.
Welcoming Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) statement in this regard, the spokesperson noted that terrifying rise in Islamophobia in India was consequence of majoritarian Hindutva agenda and anti-Muslim rife in Indian politics.
She reiterated Pakistan's concern about well-being of Kashmiri leaders and human rights defenders incarcerated in India and Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and impressed upon India to end suppression of journalists and human rights defenders.
Responding to a question about remarks of Indian external affairs minister, the FO spokesperson said that the remarks reflect Indian politicians' unhealthy obsession with Pakistan after they failed to malign and isolate Pakistan at diplomatic front.
Mumtaz Baloch said that Indian politicians, in their anti-Pakistan rhetoric, very conveniently overlook the developments in their country where the social fabric has been ripped apart due to the extremist Hindutva ideology.
To a question about latest attack of Israeli forces on Palestinians offering prayers in Al Aqsa mosque, the FO spokesperson said Pakistan condemns the attack and urges international community to take immediate action to end these inhuman actions against unarmed Palestinians.
She said this continuous pattern of Israeli oppression not only violates the religious freedom of Palestinians but also hurts religious sentiments of Muslims around the world.
