Khan’s comments follow statements Macron made last week after a French teacher was beheaded near Paris after he showed cartoons of the Prophet during a class he led on freedom of expression.
Macron said the teacher “was assassinated because the Islamists want our future.”
In a series of tweets, Khan said the comment would sow division.
“This is a time when Pres Macron could have put a healing touch and denied space to extremists instead of creating further polarization and marginalization that inevitably leads to radicalization,” Khan wrote.
“It is regrettable that he has chosen to foment Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out the violence, be they Muslims, white supremacists or Nazi ideologues.”
The hallmark of a leader is that he unites human beings, as Mandela did, rather than dividing them. This is a time when Pres … https://t.co/kYfqzsrJnl
– Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) 1603615844000
Macron already generated controversy earlier this month when he said that “Islam is a religion that is in crisis throughout the world.”
The French teacher became the target of an online hate campaign for his choice of lesson material – the same images that sparked a bloody assault by Islamist gunmen at the offices of a satirical magazine. Charlie Hebdo, the original publisher, in January 2015.
Muhammad cartoons are forbidden by Islam.
Profanity is an explosive topic among ultraconservatives. Pakistan, where anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures can face the death penalty.
“By attacking Islam, clearly without understanding it, President Macron has attacked and hurt the feelings of millions of Muslims in Europe and around the world,” Khan said.
In one direction to United Nations Last month, Khan, a populist leader known for playing with Pakistan’s hard-line religious base, criticized Charlie Hebdo for republishing the cartoons, saying that “willful provocations” should be “universally prohibited.”
Several Muslim countries have called for a boycott of French products.
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