Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged the heads of states of muslim countries to collectively carry out an effective campaign against Islamophobia to get the West understood that it hurts 1.25 billion Muslims.

Addressing the nation on television and radio, he said a collective strategy by Muslim Ummah will have an effect on the West to prevent the incidents of blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam Sallallaho Alaihe Wa Sallam Khatim-un-Nabiyeen.

The Prime Minister said when fifty heads of Muslim countries declare that they would boycott trade with the West if any incident of blasphemy occurs, it would have an impact.

Imran Khan said he himself will lead the campaign and will not disappoint the nation as well as Muslims of the world in this regard.

He expressed the confidence that we will succeed in our mission to convince the Western world that any disrespect to our Prophet Sallallaho Alaihe Wa Sallam Khatim-un-Nabiyeen in the name of freedom of expression causes pain to Muslims.

Imran Khan said he has been raising voice against Islamophobia at international forums including the OIC, the UN General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Commission and the UN human rights organizations.

He said after the blasphemous incident in France, he wrote letters to the heads of states of Muslim countries, urging them to launch a collective campaign against Islamophobia. In addition, he said, he also wrote a letter to the CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg to check blasphemous content on the social media platform.

The Prime Minister said the objective of the government and the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan to uphold sanctity of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad Sallallaho Alaihe Wa Sallam Khatim-un-Nabiyeen is the same; however, there is a difference in approach. He said expulsion of the French Ambassador, as demanded by the TLP, will not cause any damage to France, but rather badly affect Pakistan in many ways, particularly economy.

He said we need to be united at this point when the country is on the positive trajectory of economic growth with increase in exports, large scale manufacturing and job opportunities, stability in rupee value and wealth creation.

The Prime Minister said his government and the TLP had been in contact for over two months to resolve this issue; however, when they started mobilizing their workers for a march toward Islamabad, the talks discontinued. He said the TLP workers resorted to road blocks, violence, arson and torturing police officials. He said four police personnel were martyred and over eight hundred others were injured by the TLP workers. He said eight police vans were torched and private property worth millions of rupees was also damaged.

The Prime Minister urged the Ulema to play their constructive role and assist the government in this matter.