PARIS: France on Sunday welcomed Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari's decision to delete a tweet in which she had likened French President Emmanuel Macron to Nazis during World War II.
Taking to its official Twitter account, the French Embassy thanked Mazari and wrote that "freedom of expression and debates are essential in democracies, based on verified and accurate facts."
The Ministry had earlier asked Pakistan to rectify the comment made by Mazari.
In a statement issued by the French Embassy in Pakistan, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Agnes von der Muhll had said that on November 21, a member of the Pakistani Cabinet "expressed views through social media, in terms that are deeply shocking and insulting for the President of the Republic and for our country."
"These despicable words are blatant lies, loaded with an ideology of hatred and violence. Such slanderous comments are disgraceful at such level of responsibility. We reject them strongly," the statement continued.
"We have immediately informed the Chargé d'affaires of Pakistan in Paris of our condemnation in the strongest terms. Pakistan must rectify this statement and return to the path of dialogue based on respect."
The Ministry had reacted after Mazari tweeted an article titled "Forced ID Numbers for Children: France’s Macron Introduces New Charter for French Muslims," which accused the French President Emmanuel Macron of introducing "draconian laws" for Muslim children in France.
In her tweet, Mazari wrote that "Macron is doing to Muslims what the Nazis did to the Jews — Muslim children will get ID numbers (other children won’t) just as Jews were forced to wear the yellow star on their clothing for identification."
However, the publication later amended the article and issued a clarification stating that the law mentioned in the article applies to all children in France, not specifically Muslim children.
In response to a message from the French envoy pointing out the amendment to the story, Mazari deleted her tweet and said on Twitter that she had withdrawn her comment following the publication's correction to its story.
"The French Envoy to Pak sent me the following message and as the article I had cited has been corrected by the relevant publication, I have also deleted my tweet on the same," she tweeted.