Insulting Prophet should be same as denying Holocaust, says Imran Khan

Pakistan Prime Minister speaks after Anti-France protests.

Western governments should treat people who insult the Prophet Muhammed the same as those who deny the Holocaust, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said Saturday.

Speaking a week after violent protests in Pakistan by a radical Islamist party outraged by French government support for magazines publishing cartoons of Mohammed, Mr. Khan said insulting the Prophet hurt Muslims around the world.

“We Muslims have the greatest love & respect for our Prophet,” he tweeted.

“We cannot tolerate any such disrespect & abuse.”

The group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was banned on Thursday after days of violent protests.

“I... call on Western govts who have outlawed any negative comment on the holocaust to use the same standards to penalise those deliberately spreading their message of hate against Muslims by abusing our Prophet,” Mr. Khan tweeted.

Denying the Holocaust is illegal in several EU countries — including France — and offenders can be jailed.

Mr. Khan suggested the ban on TLP was not because of its motivation, but rather its methods.