PAK minister accuses Macron of treating French Muslims like Jews; France embassy reacts

Pakistan has been pushing anti-France propaganda ever since the country took a strong stand against radical Islamist terrorism in the country and the latest effort takes a jibe at President Emmanuel Macron. The French embassy has also responded to the accusations made by the Pakistan Minister for Human Rights in PM Imran Khan's cabinet.

Shireen Mazari shared a news report that said President Macron was doing to Muslims what Nazis did to the Jews in the country. Mazari claimed that the France government was implementing a system where Muslim children in the country would be given special identification numbers to track them. A comparison was drawn to the treatment by Nazi Germany, who were forced to wear the yellow star of David for identification.

The purpose of the so-called identification number is to ensure they are tracked, the report shared by Mazari claimed. However, the legislation submitted by Macron requires each child in France to be an identification number that would be used to ensure that they are attending school. There are strict policies against parents who keep their children at home as they could face fines and even jail time. Unlike what's being speculated, the measures would apply to all children, not just those from Muslim households.

In light of this, the French embassy in Pakistan called out Mazari's allegations and said they were nothing but "fake news and false accusations." The ministry also demanded the Pakistan government to rectify its comments as the remarks were "deeply shocking and insulting remarks" and contained "blatant lies."

Macron's crackdown on Islamist terrorism

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Muslim leaders across the country to accept a "charter of republican values" as part of a nationwide crackdown on radical Islam. Macron gave a 15 day ultimatum to the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) to accept the charter, which will state that Islam is a religion and not a political movement, while also prohibiting "foreign interference" in Muslim groups.

This comes after three Islamist terrorist attacks took place across the country in less than a month's time. One of the attacks included the horrific beheading of a 47-year-old school teacher, Samuel Paty, by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee after the victim showed cartoons of Prophet Mohammed to his students in a class on freedom of speech.

President Macron has described Islam as a religion "in crisis", and has vowed to tackle what he calls "Islamist Separatism".