“Ending social divisions is a matter of urgency,” says FM

Foreign of Minister (FM) of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi has called upon forging a global alliance against the rise and spread of Islamophobia and other violent groups.

According to the details, Shah Mahmood Qureshi while addressing a special meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council held in a virtual format, called upon the international community to recommit to upholding the fundamental principles of human rights and guaranteeing substantive equality for all.

“We need to take effective measures against racist thinking,” he said. He emphasized that the struggle to end social divisions was a matter of urgency.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that global unity is needed to curb the growing trend of Islamophobia and other violent nationalist groups.

“Extremism, racial discrimination and the process of eviction are the poison for the survival of the political, legal and moral basis of any state,” he said.

“We have to work together to tackle racial and other prejudices,” he said.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the colonial system, among other things, has created divisions within societies. He added that the reduction of present inequalities and eradication of racism on organized lines is the main objective of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the prime purpose of Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) is that no one should be left behind in the process of development and this thinking clearly negates all kinds of unequal attitudes including racism.

The Foreign Minister said that the expression of racial hatred, religious sentiment of superiority and violent nationalism has gone from anonymity to the mainstream of politics.

He said that the rise of violent nationalist groups has led to racist attitudes of politicians, Islamophobia has infiltrated Muslims on ethnic grounds, and law enforcement agencies against people of African descent have used force indiscriminately. It has reached the most dangerous level by trampling on the dignity of human beings.