'How About Sending One?' Netizens Troll Pakistan for Recalling the French Envoy 'That Doesn’t Exist'

09:39 GMT, 28 October 2020

CC BY-SA 4.0 / Amnagondal / Pakistan Flag in air

Shweta Sharma

Sputnik correspondent

France has faced a backlash from Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, and Kuwait, among others, since President Emmanuel Macron called Islam a religion “in crisis” in the wake of the beheading of a French teacher, who had shown caricatures of the Prophet in class on 16 October.

Sputnik

Twitter users had a field day mocking Pakistani ministers and Prime Minister Imran Khan for passing a unanimous decision in Parliament to recall an ambassador from France, who apparently was never appointed after the previous one had been transferred to China.

It has been reported that Pakistan’s last ambassador to France, Moin-ul Haq, left Paris three months ago and since then, no one has been designated to fill the role.

This has led to the vicious trolling of Pakistani politicians on social media:

Foreign Minister Qureshi was aware of the fact that the Pakistan embassy in France does not have an ambassador but did not intervene due to a heated situation in the National Assembly over the issue, reported Pakistani media.

Pakistan also summoned the French ambassador in Islamabad to lodge "strong protest" against the "blasphemous caricatures" and Macron’s "anti-Islam" comments.

The decision to recall the Pakistani envoy from France was made after French President Emmanuel Macron described Islam as "a religion that is in crisis all over the world today" and promised new legislation that would create "enlightened Islam" in the country. The remarks were made in the wake of the beheading of a French teacher, Samuel Paty, who was murdered by a radicalised teenager after Paty displayed in class cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad, considered blasphemous by Muslims.