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ISLAMABAD, Dec 09 (APP): Speakers at a seminar urged consistent global attention to genocide threats against Muslim populations, noting that history records mass killings aimed at their identity and survival, and emphasizing that for Muslims worldwide genocide remains a present reality.
The remarks were delivered at a seminar hosted on Tuesday by The Muslim Institute, a non-profit organization, titled “Genocide and Mass Murders of Muslims in Contemporary History (1857 to Date),” held to mark International Genocide Prevention Day.
Speakers noted that history bears painful witness to the genocides and mass killings carried out against Muslim populations, targeting their cultural identity, historical heritage, and even their physical survival.
They stated that genocide was often viewed as a tragic chapter of the past, for Muslims around the world it remains a living reality.
Speakers emphasized that this is a forgotten subject, and if society fails to remember and discuss it, these truths risk being buried. They stressed that just as Islamophobia was collectively raised at international platforms and eventually led to a UN-recognized day, the issue of Muslim genocide must also be raised with the same seriousness, consistency, coordination, and firm resolve to ensure its global recognition.
Speakers also recalled the 2002 Gujarat massacre, where thousands of Muslims were killed, while global human rights organizations such as Genocide Watch and Amnesty International exposed the grave failures, apathy, and negligence of the then-state government.
The speakers underscored that the world must recognize these collective atrocities against Muslims as not merely internal matters, but clear violations of international human rights frameworks and the 1948 Genocide Convention. The ongoing oppression in Palestine, systematic abuses in Kashmir, the forced displacement of the Rohingya, the historical genocide in Bosnia, and the rising tide of religiously motivated violence in India all pose serious questions to the conscience of humanity.
The event brought together eminent scholars and diplomats, including Sahibzada Sultan Ahmed Ali, Chairman of the MUSLIM Institute; Raja Zafar-ul-Haq, Secretary General of Motamar Al-Alam Al-Islami; Ambassador (R) Afrasiab Mehdi Hashmi Qureshi; and Major General (R) Khalid Amir Jaffery, former Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dr Alia Sohail Khan moderated the session.
A large number of participants from diverse fields—including ambassadors from various countries, academics, media representatives, and especially a significant number of university students—attended the seminar.