Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that Islam is a religion of peace and has nothing to do with terrorism.
Khan was addressing the 56th Convention of the Islamic Society of North America (Isna) in Houston, USA, through video link.
“Terrorism has no religion. Tamil Tigers launched suicide attacks in Sri Lanka, even before the 9/11 attack in the USA. But, India has given the freedom struggle in Kashmir the name of terrorism,” Khan said.
He briefed American Muslims on the situation in Kashmir and said that the Narendra Modi government has imposed a curfew in the valley and has cut all the communication lines to the area to suppress protests against the abrogation of Article 370.
Khan said the current Indian regime is a follower of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and that the West will have to understand the philosophy of the RSS in order to think clearly about this problem.
About Islam and misconceptions leading to Islamophobia, the prime minister said there was only one Islam and it was unfortunate to link any religion with terrorism.
The man on the street in the West should be sensitised to differentiate the religion from individual acts. He noted with regret that after 9/11, every Muslim in the West was suspected and the term terrorism created Islamophobia.
“Terrorism has nothing to do with religion,” he added and urged the West to realise Muslims’ sentiments they attached with the Prophet (PBUH). The prime minister noted that Islamophobia had led to attacks on Muslims in Europe including the mosque attack in Christchurch. He urged Isna members to use their platform and accelerate their efforts to remove misconceptions in the Western world about Islam and Muslims.
