–Pakistan to remain part of joint TV channel project
ISLAMABAD: The Malaysian government on Saturday clarified that despite its absence from the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019, Pakistan still would be a partner in joint efforts to establishing a television channel to help smash the Islamophobic narrative along with Malaysia and Turkey.
“We are also looking into establishing a TV channel which would be a collaborative effort between Turkey, Qatar and Malaysia,” an official handle of KL Summit 2019 uploaded a tweet, quoting Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah as telling at the Summit.
However, the officials immediately corrected the statement, clarifying that instead of Qatar, Pakistan would be partnering with Malaysia and Turkey for the collaborative effort.
Meanwhile, without naming Saudi Arabia, Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah took a swipe at Muslim countries ‘who go to war with other Muslim nations’ on behalf of superpower countries.
“When Malaysia wants to organise a summit, some people accuse us of trying to divide the Ummah. Meanwhile, the same people think it’s okay to bomb other countries,” the Malaysian foreign minister added.
He said the Muslim countries must seek to coexist peacefully with each other, rather than engage in conflict with their Muslim brothers.
Saifuddin Abdullah went on to say that among the ummah, “We have countries who are involved in shadow wars on behalf of superpowers, or creating proxy wars on behalf of others”.
“We have countries among the Muslim ummah who bully smaller countries, who unilaterally impose sanctions on other countries, or attack or bomb Muslim countries. When Malaysia wanted to organise the KL Summit, some people accused us of dividing the Muslim ummah, but it is ‘okay’ to bomb or impose sanctions on other countries,” he said in a special session at the Kuala Lumpur Summit.
He added that there has been a growing trend of supremacist and racial ideologies the world over. “We are faced with issues like racism, politics of race, and the rise of supremacist ideologies – be it from the West or the East.
“Muslims are divided and polarised due to different mazhab (sects), and we also have a polarisation between Muslims and non-Muslims,” he said.
He added that racism and politics of race must end and that countries should move to the centre, rather than moving further right, of the political spectrum.
Governments, he added, must not only work with other governments on this end but also with civil society organisations, international bodies and corporate sectors.
