ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has called on the United Nations (UN) to take steps to counter growing phenomenon of Islamophobia, which has emerged as a new form of racism characterized by hate speech, discrimination and violence against Muslims.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly, press counselor at Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, Mariam Shaikh said Islamophobia is a reality. According to a press release received here on Thursday from New York, the Pakistani delegate said Islamophobia’s manifestations are proliferating in several parts of the world, constituting grave violations of Muslims individuals and communities’ human rights and religious freedoms.

She urged the Department of Global Communication to raise awareness of phenomenon and to promote messages of tolerance, peaceful coexistence as well as interfaith and cultural harmony among all religions, races and nations.