ANI
23 May 2020, 04:57 GMT+10
New York [US], May 22 (ANI): Maldives has called out propaganda against India at the virtual Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meet at United Nations.
In the meet, Pakistan reportedly made attempts to push its narrative of rising Islamophobia in India into the agenda.
However, Maldives thwarted the move and said: "Isolated statements by motivated people and disinformation campaigns on social media should not be construed as representative of the feelings of 1.3 billion".
Maldives Permanent representative to the United Nations, Thilmeeza Hussain, minced no words and said alleging Islamophobia in the context of India would be factually incorrect.
"Let me state that singling out India, the largest democracy in the world and multi-cultural society and home to over 200 million Muslims, alleging Islamophobia would be factually incorrect," she said.
"It would be detrimental to the religious harmony in the South Asian region. Islam has existed in India for centuries and it is the second-largest religion in India, with 14.2% of the country's population," she added.
Of late, several Pakistan-based social media handles have been peddling lies to project India as "no place" for Muslims and claiming rise of Islamophobia in the country. India sees it as an attempt by Pakistan to create a wedge between India and the Arab World. Some Pakistan-based twitter handles even impersonated big personalities of the Arab world to run anti-India propagandaThilmeeza Hussain further said: "The world has seen an alarming rise in the culture of hatred, prejudice and racism. Violence has been exploited as a tool to promote political and other ideologies/ agendas. The Maldives stands firmly against such actions anywhere in the world, including Islamophobia, xenophobia or any form of violence to promote political or any other agenda.""Maldives cannot support any action within the OIC that singles-out or targets India," she added. (ANI)Get a daily dose of Asia Pacific Star news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Asia Pacific Star.
More InformationDHARAMSHALA, India: The Dalai Lama turned 90 on July 6, celebrated by thousands of followers in the Himalayan town of Dharamshala,...
HONG KONG: China has fired back at the European Union in an escalating trade dispute by imposing new restrictions on medical device...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump says the United States could soon reach a trade deal with India. He believes this deal would...
New Delhi [India], July 9 (ANI): In a landmark moment for Indian pickleball, Vanshik Kapadia, representing the All India Pickleball...
Taipei [Taiwan], July 9 (ANI): In June, Taiwan's exports reached a new monthly high of USD 53.32 billion, marking the 20th consecutive...
The delay adds yet another twist to Trump's original 90 deals in 90 days promise -- so far yielding only two vague trade agreements...
LONDON, U.K.: This week, BP appointed Simon Henry, former Shell finance chief, to its board as a non-executive director effective September...
OTTAWA, Canada: With Canada Post struggling to maintain operations amid labour unrest, rivals like FedEx and UPS are stepping in to...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. and global markets showed a mixed performance in Tuesday's trading session, with some indices edging higher...
PARIS, France: French military and intelligence officials have accused China of orchestrating a covert campaign to damage the reputation...
NEW DELHI, India: Birkenstock is stepping up its efforts to protect its iconic sandals in India, as local legal representatives conducted...
HONG KONG: China has fired back at the European Union in an escalating trade dispute by imposing new restrictions on medical device...