NEW YORK: Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia have decided to jointly launch an English language Islamic television channel to correct misperceptions and confront the challenges posed by Islamophobia, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced.

Prime Minister Khan, who is in New York to participate in the 74th session of the United Nation General Assembly, said the channel will telecast series and films produced on Muslims to educate and inform the world on the Islamic history.

“President Erdogan, PM Mahathir and myself had a meeting today in which we decided our three countries would jointly start an English language channel dedicated to confronting the challenges posed by Islamophobia and setting the record straight on our great religion — Islam,” he said in a Tweet.

Imran Khan attended a high-level, round table discussion on ‘Countering Hate Speech’ co-hosted by Pakistan and Turkey. The meeting was attended by Khan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad.

Khan and Erdogan, while addressing the event, underscored the need for putting in place effective measures against incidents of religion-based discrimination, especially facing Muslims in Western countries.

“Muslims living in Western countries are now increasingly subjected to Islamophobia which is going to have consequences unless it is addressed because we all know that marginalization of any community leads to radicalization,” Khan told.

The Pakistani prime minister insisted neither Islam nor any other religion has anything to do with terrorism. But he lamented that Muslims, especially in Western societies, are being subjected to anti-Islamic hate because some leaders in those countries routinely associate terrorism with Islam.

“How is a man in the street in New York suppose to tell who is a radical Muslim and who is a moderate Muslim? How can anyone tell? So, all Muslims are branded [terrorists]?” Khan asked. He said all societies, be it Muslim or Christian or Jewish, have religious fanatics.

Erdogan, while addressing the roundtable, noted that Muslims are subjected to hate speech, saying Islam is a religion of peace and linking it with terror is an “immoral slander”.