Member of the British Parliament and Shadow Justice Minister Muhammad Afzal Khan on behalf of the Labor Party has said that Islamophobia is increasing in many countries including Europe and the United Kingdom. There is a need to define it clearly and work to remedy it.
He expressed these views in a meeting organized by the Pakistan Press Club Belgium with the current and former members of the parliament.
Apart from Afzal Khan, Sajjad Karim, who has been a member of the European Parliament for 15 years, Dr. Manzoor Zahoor, a former member of the Brussels Parliament, and Councilor Nasir Chaudhry, a current member of 1000 communes of Brussels, also participated in this meeting.
First, President of Press Club Belgium Chaudhry Imran Saqib and General Secretary Mohammad Nadeem Butt welcomed the guests. The second part of this seat was named after Hakeem Ummat Allama Muhammad Iqbal. In which the creation of Pakistan under Fikr Iqbal, its past months and years and the current situation were discussed.
Speaking at the event, British Member of Parliament Afzal Khan, who is working on the growing Islamophobia in the world today, said that 42% of hate crimes in the UK are currently Islamophobic.
He further said that this chain has spread to Europe, Kashmir and Palestine. All this hatred is an open challenge to those Muslim minds who wish to lead a dignified life in the world on the basis of mutual respect. Therefore, it is important that we focus on its remedy by ensuring its meaningful interpretation.
Former MEP Sajjad Karim, who has been a member of the European Parliament for 15 years, recalled in his speech the days when members of different parties from Britain were part of the European Parliament. He reminded that under the influence of Pakistani and Kashmiri diaspora from all over Europe, Great Britain was undoubtedly Pakistan’s first friend in Europe. It was because of our presence that a human rights paragraph was included in Europe’s Free Trade Agreement with India.
While discussing the subject of Brexit, he called it harmful for both Europe and Britain. On this occasion, he also remembered senior journalist Khalid Hameed Farooqui from Jio and paid tribute to his professionalism.
In the second part of this session, various topics of Iqbal’s thought were discussed on the occasion of Iqbal Day and eminent poets, Sher Raz and Imran Saqib presented their speech. The speakers of this section described the current situation of the country as a failure of political leadership.
Among the participants of this short session, prominent intellectual Rao Mustjab Ahmed, Anisa from Labor Party UK, Chairman of Kashmir Council EU Ali Raza Syed, social leader Sardar Siddique Khan, Mir Shahjahan of Kashmir Info, young political leaders Shakeel Gohar, Zeeshan Ahmed and Zarwan Ghamdi was involved.
Finally, prayers for forgiveness were offered for Khalid Hameed Farooqui.