Indian Foreign Ministry Slams 'Unacceptable' Personal Attacks Against France's Macron

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th October, 2020) The Indian Ministry of External Affairs released a statement on Wednesday condemning insults addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron amid a backlash in Muslim countries after he stood up for the freedom of speech in France following the Prophet Muhammad caricatures controversy.

Macron vowed to counter radical Islamism in France following a brutal murder of a French teacher by a Muslim teen after he showed media-borne caricatures of the Islamic prophet during a lesson. Muslim countries lashed out at Macron, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan going as far as suggesting that the French leader seek treatment from "mental issues."

"We strongly deplore the personal attacks in unacceptable language on President Emmanuel Macron in violation of the most basic standards of international discourse," the Indian ministry's statement read.

New Delhi also condemned the notorious murder, which it described as a "brutal terrorist attack that took the life of a French teacher in a gruesome manner that has shocked the world."

The ministry offered its condolences to the victim's family and the French people, adding that "there is no justification for terrorism for any reason and under any circumstance."

French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain has thanked New Delhi, posting on Twitter "France and India can always count on each other in the fight against terrorism."

On October 16, Samuel Paty was beheaded by an 18-year-old teenager after showing cartoons from a satirical magazine depicting prophet Muhammad to his students during a freedom of speech lesson. The killer, a French citizen of Chechen descent, was subsequently shot dead by police.

Macron declared the attack a terrorist act and said that the French government would from now on do more to counter religiously-motivated violent extremism, including by tightening the oversight of funding that French mosques receive from abroad.