‘Factually incorrect’, Maldives halts Pakistan's attempt to single out India on Islamophobia at OIC meet

New Delhi, May 23: Maldives halts Pakistan's attempt to single out India on Islamophobia at OIC's virtual meet on Friday. Permant Representative of Maldives in New York Amb Thilmeeza Hussain at the meet said, "Maldives cannot support any action within the OIC, that singles-out or targets India".

 

"Singling out India, which the largest democracy in the world and multicultural society and home to over 200 million Muslims, alleging Islamophobia would be factually incorrect", he added. Hussain stated that isolated statements by motivated people and disinformation campaigns on social media should not be construed as representative of the feelings of 1.3 billion. Therefore, the Maldives cannot support any action within the GIG, that singles-out or targets India.

Targetting a specific country will be like side stepping the real issue. In this light let me state that 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 latgest religion in the India, with 14.2 % of the country's population, she added.

 

Maldives also stressed that India has forged strong alliances with some of the most powerful OIC members such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Mauritius. Hussain said the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conferred with the highest civilians honour of their lands. 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 agendas, she signed off.