Pakistan's Imran Khan accuses French President Emmanuel Macron of 'attacking Islam'

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused the French President Emmanuel Macron of "attacking Islam" after the French leader defended the publication of the controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

The statement came after Macron, last week, said the teacher "was killed because Islamists want our future." His statement was for the French school teacher who was beheaded near the capital city Paris for showing cartoons of the Prophet during a class he was leading on free speech.

Commenting on his leadership skills, Imran slammed Macron saying, "Hallmark of a leader is he unites human beings, as Mandela did, rather than dividing them."

"This is a time when Pres Macron could have put healing touch & denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation & marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation," his tweet continued.

Khan accused Macron of encouraging 'Islamophobia' and of "attacking Islam".

Khan has spoken against Macron after he claimed, this month, that "Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world".

"It is unfortunate that he has chosen to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence, be it Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi ideologists. Sadly, President Macron has chosen to deliberately provoke Muslims, incl his own citizens, through encouraging the display of blasphemous cartoons targeting Islam & our Prophet PBUH. By attacking Islam,   clearly without having any understanding of it, President Macron has attacked & hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims in Europe & across the world," his tweet read.