PARIS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - A Pakistani minister on Sunday
withdrew comments she made earlier that President Emmanuel
Macron was treating Muslims like Nazis had treated Jews in World
War Two.
France's foreign minister had demanded Pakistan authorities
withdraw the comments posted on Twitter by Pakistan's Federal
Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari.
She posted the remarks following a clash between Pakistan
and France over the publication of images of the Prophet
Mohammad by a French magazine.
The images have sparked anger and protests in the Muslim
world, especially in Pakistan.
"Macron is doing to Muslims what the Nazis did to the Jews -
Muslim children will get ID numbers (other children won't) just
as Jews were forced to wear the yellow star on their clothing
for identification," Mazari had said in a tweet linking to an
online article.
The article was however amended earlier on Sunday to reflect
the fact that the idea, if implemented, would be applied to all
children in France and not just to Muslim children.
In a follow-up tweet on Sunday, Mazari initially doubled
down on her claims following a condemnation by France's foreign
ministry late on Saturday, which described them as "blatant
lies, imbued with an ideology of hatred and violence."
Later on Sunday, however, Mazari tweeted: "The article I had
cited has been corrected by the relevant publication, I have
also deleted my tweet on the same."
She said she had been alerted to the correction by the
French ambassador to Pakistan.
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had told RTL radio the
comments were unacceptable and should be withdrawn from Twitter,
but said he was remaining prudent because some media had been
taken advantage of and had since clarified their articles.
Pakistan's parliament at the end of October passed a
resolution urging the government to recall its envoy from Paris,
accusing Macron of "hate-mongering" against Muslims.
Macron had paid tribute to a French history teacher who was
beheaded by an 18-year-old man of Chechen origin for showing
cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on freedom of
speech.
French officials have said the beheading was an assault on
the core French value of freedom of expression.
After satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo re-published the
cartoons in September, Macron defended secularism, saying the
freedom of belief went hand in hand with freedom of expression
including the right to blaspheme.
(Reporting by John Irish,
Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, William Maclean)