French President Emmanuel Macron has asked his country’s Muslim representatives to accept the ‘Charter of Republican Values’ to destroy radical Islam.
On Wednesday, the President met eight leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) and said that they are granted 15 days of deferment.
According to him, this charter should include two special things apart from other issues: Islam in France is only a religion, no political movement and hence politics should be removed from it. And any kind of ‘foreign interference’ has to be banned in the Muslim community of France.
The president’s tough stance has been seen since three suspected Islamic extremist attacks in the country last month.
These attacks also include the murder of a 47-year-old teacher on October 16, who showed some cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in one of his classes.
Controversial bill proposed
France’s President Emmanuel Macron’s war against radical Islam does not end with the insistence on the creation of the charter.
He also proposed a bill after several hours of this meeting which many people call controversial. Some important aspects of this bill are as follows:
- Those who threaten and threaten public officials on religious grounds will be given severe punishment. There will be a ban on teaching children at home.
- Every child will be given a identification number for his identification so that he can keep an eye on whether he is going to school or not. Law-breaking parents may face six months in jail as well as major fines.
- A person will be banned from sharing personal information in such a way that they may be harmed by those who want to harm them.
The President had made some similar proposals on October 2 and said that there is a crisis in Islam.
His statements after the extremist attacks were described as anti-Islam and many Muslim countries became angry with him. In some countries, Boycott of goods made in France was also demanded.
Islam has remained the biggest issue in France for the last few years. France has no official religion because it is a secular state. This secularism is called laïcité or ‘lycete’ in the country.
This is a secularism that has been well adopted by both the left wing and the right wing. Islam does not seem to fit perfectly in the government’s view.
For the last two years, President Macron has been making an attempt to bring French Islam under the ‘licit’ realm in which previous presidents had failed.
