Headlines:
- Islamophobia on the Rise in Europe
- Europe’s Muslim Population to Exceed 44m by 2030
- Pakistan’s Diplomatic Dispute with US Intensifies
Islamophobia on the Rise in Europe
Recently, the third edition of the European Islamophobia Report (EIR) was published, which corroborated this trend. When the first EIR was presented in 2016 at the European Union Parliament in Brussels, its editors made it clear that their aim was to “analyse trends in the spread of Islamophobia in various European states”. In 2017, 33 countries, including almost all EU member states and other nations such as Russia, Norway and Ukraine, were studied. In Austria, 256 incidents were documented. In Germany, 100 attacks on mosques occurred, while German Muslims were attacked at least 908 times. In Greater London, the hate crime cases targeting Muslims for the entire year of 2017 increased to 1,204 from 1,678 in the previous year, a 40% rise. In Poland, Muslims were the most targeted group, representing 20% of all hate crime cases. However, not all such incidents have been recorded. There are at least two reasons for that. First, most European states do not record Islamophobic incidents as a separate category of hate crime, which is “essential to uncover the real extent of this problem”, as the report says. Second, only 12% of Muslims who have been discriminated against report their cases to authorities. The authors also tie the rise of Islamophobia to the recent strong-showing of far-right parties all over Europe. “There is no doubt that Islamaphobic discourses have become more established in those countries where right-wing parties have been successful recently,” said Farid Hafez, a senior research scholar at the Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University, Washington. Mr. Hafez is also one the the two editors of the EIR. According to him, it has become much more easier and acceptable to spread anti-Muslim views during recent years. In 2017, the far-right Alternative for Germany entered the German Bundestag, while the Freedom Party of Austria has become part of the government in Vienna. Other right-wing parties in France, the Netherlands and Italy saw historical results, and all of them have one common enemy — Muslims. The report reveals how Islamophobia has changed over the last years and has become more established in Europe. [Source: The Hindu]
The rise in violence against Muslims living in Europe is not surprising and the far right is only one factor behind this phenomenon. The daily diet of anti-Islamic propaganda fed to millions of Europeans is real reason why Islamophobia is swiftly spreading across Europe, and this alludes to a deliberate policy executed by Western governments to prepare their populations for the new Spanish inquisition.
Europe’s Muslim Population to Exceed 44m by 2030
Europe’s Muslim population is expected to reach 44 million by the year 2030, making up almost a tenth of the continent’s population, according to recent forecasts. According to a report prepared by the Universal Muslim Diaspora Project in cooperation with Ankara’s Social Sciences University, Muslims are set to make up eight percent of the EU’s total population by 2030. The same report predicts that Muslims will also make up 2.1 percent, or close to five million, of the U.S. population by the same year. Internationally, the report forecasts that more than one in five people globally will be Muslim in 2030. Seventy-nine countries worldwide will have a population of one million Muslims by 2030, including Belgium, Canada and the Netherlands, according to the same report. [Source: Yenisafak]
Despite the negative publicity against Islam in Europe, the population of Muslims (including Muslim children, immigrants and converts) is growing. Allah (swt) says:
هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ
“It is He who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although they who associate others with Allah dislike it.” [Al-Tawbah:33]
Pakistan’s Diplomatic Dispute with US Intensifies
Pakistan’s decision not to allow a U.S. diplomat from leaving the country for his role in a fatal road accident has fueled tensions between the two countries. U.S. defense attache, Joseph Emanuel Hall, on Saturday planned to board an American military aircraft at the air force base near Islamabad but was not permitted to do so and returned to the embassy, security officials confirmed to VOA on Sunday. They said several embassy officials had accompanied Hall when he arrived at Nur Khan Air Base where immigration authorities informed him his name is on a government “blacklist” because of the criminal case pending against him. Pakistani officials said the U.S. military aircraft had arrived in the country from Afghanistan to fly Hall out but went back without him. A U.S. embassy spokesman declined to comment on the situation with the diplomat nor would he confirm or deny that Hall was prevented from leaving the country.On April 7, the American defense attache ran a red light in Islamabad, killing a motorcyclist and seriously injuring another person on the bike. “This level of diplomat, he is not a contractor, has diplomatic immunity. But having said that immunity does not mean that they can flagrantly flout the host country’s laws with impunity,” Sherry Rehman, leader of the opposition in the Pakistani Senate, told VOA. She has also served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. Pakistan barred Hall from leaving the country a day after it placed unspecified travel restrictions on American diplomats and withdrew concessions Islamabad had granted to U.S. missions as part of the “war on terror” partnership. The restrictions went into effect on Friday the same day Washington announced Pakistani diplomats would be required to seek permission five days in advance before traveling more than 40 kilometers from their posts in the United States. The Pakistani foreign ministry through a formal letter also informed the U.S. embassy its officials would no longer be entitled to special treatment at the airports and their cargo will have to be scanned like that of other passengers. American diplomats have also been barred from “installing radio communication at residences and safe houses” without prior government permission. They have also been disallowed from using “tinted glass” on vehicles as well as rented transportation and installing non-diplomatic license plates on official vehicles. [Source: Voice of America].
How long can the Pakistani leadership allow US personnel to freely roam the country and do whatever they please? How long can the Pakistani leadership allow American safe houses to exist in major Pakistani cities? How long can the Pakistani leadership allow the US diplomat to coordinate clandestine attacks on Pakistani soil through drones, contractors and other third parties? The time has come to sever all links with the US and expel all of their staff.