Indian products pulled from Kuwait supermarket over Prophet remarks
After statements made by an Indian ruling party official against the Prophet Muhammad spurred calls for a boycott of Indian goods on social media, Kuwaiti stores have begun to remove Indian products off their shelves.
The Gulf States condemned the sentiments made by a spokeswoman for India’s ruling party, calling them “Islamophobia.”
Following the remarks, Gulf Arab governments, where millions of Indians work and live, released declarations of outrage.
Nupur Sharma, a spokesperson for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was suspended after her remarks were deemed disrespectful to Islam and criticized and opposed by some Arab and Islamic countries.
The foreign ministries of Qatar and Kuwait praised the party’s decision, but each said in separate statements that they anticipated a formal apology and an official rejection from India over the remarks.
Sharma withdrew her comments unconditionally, in an apology that she posted on her social media account.
During a televised discussion, Sharma made derogatory statements against the Prophet Muhammad and his wives, which sparked outrage among Muslims.
In a statement, the Qatari Foreign Ministry claimed it had summoned India’s envoy to protest the Prophet Muhammad’s offensive words.
A similar action was taken by Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry. According to the report, she handed the Indian ambassador a paper condemning the remarks.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs has likewise condemned and denounced the comments made by the party’s spokeswoman.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Sunday affirming the kingdom’s unwillingness to “violate the emblems of the Islamic religion, as well as to prejudice all religious figures and symbols.”
Meanwhile, the Saudi Foreign Ministry applauded the suspension of the governing party’s spokeswoman.
In Bahrain, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the offensive statements and welcomed the BJP’s decision to suspend its spokeswoman.
Pakistan said in a statement that it “condemns in the strongest possible terms” the “extremely offensive” statements.
” The Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly condemned the insulting statements of the Prophet Muhammad.
In a statement published on its official website on Sunday evening, the organization’s general secretariat called on the Indian authorities to “resolutely confront these abuses and all forms of insults to the Holy Prophet and the Islamic religion “.
Al-Azhar Al-Sharif – the highest religious institution in Egypt – also condemned the offensive statements and considered them “arrogance and bad manners in talking about the Prophet Muhammad and his wife, Lady Aisha.”
He stressed, in an official statement on Sunday, that such behavior “is the real terrorism itself, which can plunge the entire world into crisis.”