Ganesh Puthur
Following the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in France, President of the Republic, Immanuel Macron has issued an ultimatum to the French Council of Muslim Faith. Earlier this week, he along with the French Interior minister Gerald Darmanin had met the leaders of French Council of Muslim Faith to demand them to accept a charter which opposed political Islam. They are given 15 days to respond and sources claim that the council will accept it fearing harsh measures from the Macron administration.
Through the Charter, France wants to stress on two aspects:
1) Islam is a religion and not a political movement.
2) French Muslims will not accept any foreign intervention in their matter of faith.
France had witnessed multiple terror attacks in the past few years in the name of Islam and the last being the killing of three people at a Church in the city of Nice. The city mayor Christian Estrosi had said that the suspect of the terror attack had “repeated endlessly Allahu-Akbar” and the mayor also spoke about ‘Islamo-fascism’.
The nation has been firm in its stand on the freedom of expression and values of the Republic. Islamic nations like Pakistan and Turkey have been popping up anti-French feelings to flare up Islamist sentiments. France had accused Turkey and Russia of funding anti-French organisations in Africa to run propaganda against France.
Macron government has prepared a bill to prevent radicalisation which proposes tough measures to put an end to this ongoing crisis. Madrasa education system will be discouraged and harsh punishments will be given to people who intimidate public officials. As per the new law, filming of police is banned and violation of this law attracts a penalty of $53,000.
It is expected that France’s fight against Islamic fundamentalism will be appropriated by other European nations who are facing similar troubles from the Islamists.
