In a statement delivered Monday on behalf of OIC, Pakistan’s Ambassador Khalil Hashmi said the Jeddah-based organization remains “deeply concerned” on the growing incidents of xenophobia, Islamophobia and religious intolerance, resulting in denigration of venerated religious personalities and symbols.
“Recent incidents (re-publication of caricatures by Charlie Hebdo) and burning of the religious text and ridiculing religious personalities constitute grave incitement to violence,” he said while commenting on the report of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on the situation of human rights in the world.
There was no justification for such acts, invoking the right to freedom of expression, he said.
“The OIC calls upon all stakeholders to speak out against these deliberate acts of provocation that have no basis under international human rights law. Culprits behind such acts must be held to account and brought to justice,” Hashmi said.