President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday expressed alarm over what he termed an increase in religious intolerance, hate speech and Islamophobia in "our immediate neighbourhood".

He was addressing a virtual summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) for Covid-19. The special online summit of the heads of state and governments of NAM member states was convened at the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, in his capacity as current chair of the movement.

The NAM, a forum for 120 states across the world, born at the height of the Cold War, started out as a group of nations seeing themselves as independent of the two power blocs centred on Washington and Moscow. Since then, it has become a vehicle for championing the interests of developing states.

"There has been alarming increase in religious intolerance, hate speech, Islamophobia, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination.

Children, women and elderly have faced verbal abuse, death threats and physical attacks. Muslims have been denied access to vital health services. Nowhere are these trends more pronounced than in our immediate neighbourhood," President Alvi said.

The president blasted the "far-right" Indian government for its hate-mongering and said that its actions were a part of its "ideological dispensation and anti-minority agenda".

"The spread of the virus has been widely dubbed as corona jihad," Alvi added, as he reminded the NAM member states that as the world is fighting Covid-19, it must not remain oblivious to the dangerous trends that have ominously crept up in the wake of the pandemic.

Expression of hatred against Muslims in India has become more pronounced during the pandemic, lamented Alvi adding that hospitals have refused to treat Muslim patients, neighbourhoods have discussed stopping Muslims from entering and people have been removed from jobs.

Alvi also reminded the world of the ongoing crippling lockdown in Indian occupied Kashmir, saying that "Kashmiris have been made to suffer under a political lockdown since August 2019". He warned that the Kashmiri youth who are languishing in jails were extremely vulnerable to the virus.

The president said it was unfortunate that India created a war-like situation during the ongoing pandemic by resorting to heavy shelling along the Line of Control.

Exceptional circumstances call for exceptional solidarity

President Alvi said that the crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic is a "stark reminder that no country can overcome challenges alone".

"A global challenge requires a global response which is rooted in solidarity, international cooperation and respect for multilateralism. These exceptional circumstances call for exceptional solidarity," he added.

Alvi also noted that developing countries are likely to suffer from "massive poverty and unemployment" in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

In view of the pandemic's socioeconomic impact on developing countries, he said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for a global initiative for debt relief which seeks to provide urgent relief for lower-income countries.

"Developing countries must be supported by fiscal space," the president said.

President Alvi also outlined some of the measures that Pakistan has taken to fight against the novel coronavirus.

"We undertook a number of steps early on to mitigate the spread of virus. A robust institutional mechanism was set up to ensure a unified response," Alvi said.

"Additionally, wide ranging measures were introduced, which included restrictions on international and domestic travel, school closures, localised quarantines, banning of public gatherings and strengthening countrywide health response," Alvi elaborated.

The president also briefed the NAM member states about the government's Ehsaas emergency cash programme.

"Our honourable prime minister Imran Khan launched an expansive package of approximately $8 billion for 12 million financially vulnerable families," Alvi said.