Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has written a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg seeking a ban on Islamophobic content on the site, warning that it results in polarisation and marginalisation of Muslims.

In the letter, shared by the Pakistani government on Twitter, Imran Khan said that "growing Islamophobia" and marginalisation of Muslims is encouraging extremism and violence across the world – especially through social media platforms such as Facebook.

"I would ask you to place a similar ban on Islamophobia and hate against Islam for Facebook that you have put in place for the Holocaust," Khan said.

Facebook said this month it was reversing it earlier policy and will now ban any content that denied or distorted the Holocaust.

In an earlier interview Zuckerberg had said he found “Holocaust denial deeply offensive” and that he believed that “the best way to fight offensive bad speech is with good speech.

"One can not send a message that while hate messages against some are unacceptable, these are acceptable against others," Khan said, adding that this was "reflective of prejudice and bias that will encourage further radicalisation".

Khan in his letter made reference to the situation in France, where, President Emmanuel Macron has encouraging the display of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad which causes offense to Muslims.

He also mentioned India's recent citizenship law that singles out the country's Muslims community.

Facebook did not immediately reply request for comment on Khan's letter.

Pakistan's PM Khan accuses Macron of 'attacking Islam'

Earlier on Sunday, Khan said that French President Emmanuel Macron had "attacked Islam" by encouraging the display of cartoons.

The debate over France's policies toward Muslims was given new impetus by the murder this month in France of a teacher who showed his class a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.

Khan's comments follow statements Macron declaration of war on "Islamist separatism", which he believes is taking over some Muslim communities in France.

In a series of tweets, Khan said the remark would sow division. 

"This is a time when Pres Macron could have put healing touch & denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation & marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation," Khan wrote.

"It is unfortunate that he has chosen to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence, be it Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi ideologists."

Macron already sparked controversy earlier this month when he said "Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world".

Erdogan's second broadside against Macron

Meanwhile, President Erdogan renewed his call for his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to undergo mental checks on Sunday, a day after his comments prompted Paris to recall its envoy to Ankara.

The Turkish leader accused Macron of being "obsessed with Erdogan day and night", in a televised speech in the eastern Anatolian city of Malatya.

Erdogan said Macron had "lost his way", in his second sharp criticism of the French leader in two days over the treatment of Muslims.

Growing calls for boycott of French products

Calls to boycott French goods are growing around the world after President Emmanuel Macron's comments against Islam and Muslims and social media hashtags like #BoycottFrenchProducts in were trending in several Arab countries and Turkey.

In Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's largest economy, a hashtag calling for the boycott of French supermarket retailer Carrefour was the second most trending on Sunday.

Jordan's opposition Islamic Action Front party called on the French president to apologise for his comments and urged citizens in the kingdom to boycott French goods.

Such boycotts are already underway in Kuwait and Qatar. Many Arab companies began removing French products from their shelves

A similar campaign was doing the rounds on Pakistani social media calling for the boycott of French companies like Carrefour and Total that operate in the South Asian nation./trtworld

DAKAR, Senegal

At least 16 people in Ivory Coast have been killed in ethnic clashes ahead of the presidential polls slated for Oct. 31, government officials said on Sunday.

In a statement, the government said that 67 people have also been injured in the clashes that began in the southern town of Dabou earlier this week.

The statement said that 52 people were also detained.

Clashes are reported to have taken place between members of the Malinke ethnic group -- of which the incumbent president belongs, and Adjoukourou ethnic group.

The opposition claims that Alassane Ouattara’s candidacy for a third term in office violates the country's constitution.

However, Ouattara argues that his first term should not be counted, as constitutional amendments that limit an elected president to two terms in office were introduced during his second term.

A total of 44 candidates had filed nominations to contest the presidential elections. But the nominations of most of them were rejected as they failed to amass signatures from at least 1% of the electorate, which has been made mandatory in the country's new election law.

Four candidates, including Ouattara, will run in the presidential elections.

Experts warn that the violent situation may turn out of control in the former French colony, known for its beach resorts and rainforests.

They recalled that a similar controversial election in 2010 had resulted in the deaths of 3,000 people. Backed by France, Ouattara was declared the winner in the polls against Laurent Gbagbo, who had also claimed victory.

Since late 2011, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been trying Gbagbo for his alleged role in the violent incidents./aa

DHAKA, Bangladesh

Myanmar has told China it is willing to take back Rohingya refugees currently living in Bangladesh, according to the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry said China’s top diplomat Wang Yi conveyed this information to his Bangladeshi counterpart AK Abdul Momen in a phone call on Thursday night.

“Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi said that recently Myanmar had once again assured that the displaced Rohingya would be returned to Myanmar,” said the statement issued on Friday.

Myanmar informed China that it will soon hold talks with Bangladesh on the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, it added.

Wang said Beijing has remained in touch with Myanmar on the Rohingya crisis, assuring Momen that envoy-level talks between Dhaka and Naypyitaw will be held after Myanmar’s elections in November, the statement said.

That will be followed by a tripartite minister-level meeting between China, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, the statement quoted Wang as saying.

The Chinese and Bangladeshi diplomats also discussed other issues, including coronavirus vaccine efforts and post-pandemic economic recovery.

Rohingya: ‘World’s most persecuted people’

Bangladesh is currently host to over 1.2 million Rohingya, who have been described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.

The Rohingya have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires, over 114,000 more beaten, and as many as 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar's army and police, said the OIDA report, titled Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience.

Over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and some 113,000 others vandalized, it added.

In it its World Report 2020, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said a UN-mandated Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) found “sufficient evidence to call for the investigation of senior military officials for crimes against humanity and genocide against ethnic Rohingya Muslims.”

Some 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State were still the target of a government campaign to eradicate their identity and living under “threat of genocide,” according to the FFM’s report last September as quoted by HRW./aa

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Kayseri, Turkey on October 24, 2020.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Kayseri, Turkey on October 24, 2020. (AA)

The president of Turkey has warned that Europe is preparing its own end amid rising Islamophobia across the continent.

"Europe is preparing its own end with its front against Muslims," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, addressing a meeting of his governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) at a stadium in the central province of Kayseri.

"If they aren't rid of this disease as soon as possible, it will collapse all of Europe from within," Erdogan added.

Erdogan's remarks came after French President Emmanuel Macron accused Muslims of "separatism" and described Islam as "a religion in crisis all over the world".

"What can we say of a head of state who behaves like this to millions of members of a different faith in his country," said Erdogan.

"First of all, [Macron needs] mental checks."

He asserted that European fascism had entered a new phase with attacks on the rights of Muslims, referring to a recent police raid on a mosque in Germany's capital, Berlin, that he had denounced on Friday.

The Turkish president also accused France of being complicit in Armenia's decades-long occupation of the occupied Karabakh region in Azerbaijan.

Hours after President Erdogan's remarks, France recalled its ambassador to Turkey for consultations.

PARIS

France on Sunday urged Arab countries to stop calls for boycott of French products.

“These calls for boycotts and attacks on our country pushed by a radical minority are baseless and must be stopped immediately,” French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a statement.

Earlier, several Arab trade groups announced their boycott of French products in response to statements against Islam and over republication of caricatures insulting Prophet Muhammad.

In recent weeks, French President Emmanuel Macron attacked Islam and the Muslim community, accusing Muslims of "separatism". He described Islam as a “a religion in crisis all over the world".

This coincided with a provocative move by Charlie Hebdo, a left-wing French magazine infamous for publishing anti-Islamic caricatures, which have drawn widespread anger and outrage across the Muslim world.

Last month, the magazine republished caricatures insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad.

The caricatures were first published in 2006 by a Danish newspaper Jylllands Posten, sparking a wave of protests.

MELBOURNE

An unidentified man on Saturday attacked a Turkish mosque in Sydney, Australia.

A male attacker entered the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque, which is affiliated with the Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs, and caused material damage by breaking the chandeliers, windowpanes, plasma television and some items on the upper floor.

Some citizens recorded video footage, and took photographs during the attack, and informed the police. The perpetrator has been arrested./aa

MALATYA, Turkey(AA)

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday hit back at Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders over an insulting cartoon he shared.

"Fascism is not in our book, it's in your book. Social justice is in our book," Erdogan said at a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in the eastern Malatya province, calling Wilders a "fascist."

"The forces that make the world uninhabitable have put us on the target board because we disrupt their games and reveal their true faces," Erdogan said, adding: "We will carry on."

His remarks came after Wilders, known for his anti-Islamic stance, shared on Twitter an insulting cartoon of the Turkish president which was denounced by several Turkish officials, including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Fascism is not in our book: Erdogan

“When truth spoken to their faces Europe's loser racists showed up again. Trying to exploit Islamophobia and xenophobia. Time has come to stop Europe’s spoiled politicians with fascist mindset,” Cavusoglu said on Twitter.

"Immoral, antihuman and fascist [...]," said AK Party spokesman Omer Celik on Twitter in response to the post, along with the hashtag #TerroristGeertWilders.

Fahrettin Altun, Turkey's communications director, also took to Twitter in criticism of Islamophobia.

"Europe is an increasingly dangerous place for Muslims. The dog whistle politics of offensive caricatures, accusations of separatism against Muslims, and mosque raids isn't about freedom of expression," Altun warned.

“Each day, we experience a new anti-Islam or anti-Turkey delusions coming from different corners of Europe,” Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Twitter.

Using the hashtag #TerroristGeertWilders, Oktay added that Wilders used a “disrespectful image” which exceeds the limit.

“It is a shame that these people, who are fed with institutionalized anti-Islamism and build their entire policy on "Hostility to Erdogan," are in decision-making mechanisms in Europe,” he said, adding that European values should not be a party to this “shame”.

'Taking sides with Azerbaijan'

“We were blamed for taking sides with our Azerbaijani brothers defending their lands in the Caucasus,” Erdogan said, adding that some Americans called Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev telling him that they could impose sanctions on Turkey.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh.

Four UN Security Council resolutions and two from the UN General Assembly, as well as international organizations, demand the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territory.

Since recent clashes erupted on Sept. 27, Armenia has repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani civilians and forces, even violating two humanitarian cease-fires announced earlier this month.

World powers, including Russia, France, and the US, have called for a new and lasting cease-fire. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku's right to self-defense and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces. 

Regarding the S-400 missile systems, Erdogan recalled that it was Turkey that stepped in to purchase US’s F-35 fighter jets.

“You [the US] threatened us. You said 'Send the S-400s back to Russia'. We are not a tribal state. We are Turkey,” he stressed.

Since 2017, Turkey and the US have been at odds over Turkey's decision to buy the S-400, a Russian-made missile defense system, with the US threatening to break its contract to sell Turkey F-35 fighter jets over the dispute./aa