ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday appreciated Russian President Vladimir Putin for his “emphatic” statement in which the latter said that freedom of speech could not be a pretext to insult Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). 
During his annual press conference in December 2021, Putin had expressed the importance of artistic freedom, maintaining that insulting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did not count as freedom of expression. 
Insults to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) were a “violation of religious freedom and the violation of the sacred feelings of people who profess Islam,” he was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency, TASS. 
Such acts gave rise to extremist reprisals, the Russian president had said, citing the 2015 attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris that killed over a dozen people after the magazine published blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). 
On Monday, PM Khan held a telephonic conversation with the Russian leader and thanked him for his earnest remarks and regard of Muslim sentiment. 
“Just spoke to President Putin primarily to express my appreciation for his emphatic statement that freedom of speech could not be a pretext to abuse our Prophet PBUH,” the Pakistani prime minister said on Twitter. 
“He is the first Western leader to show empathy & sensitivity to Muslim sentiment for their beloved Prophet PBUH.” 

PM Khan said they discussed ways to move forward on trade and other mutually beneficial cooperation and invited each other to visit their countries. 
Later, PM Khan’s office also issued a statement on the telephonic conversation between the two leaders. “The prime minister stated that he has been regularly [underscoring] the appalling rise in Islamophobia and associated hatred in his addresses to the United Nations General Assembly, pointing toward its serious ramifications,” the statement read. 
The two leaders “fondly recalled” their interactions last year and exchanged views on bilateral cooperation as well as regional and international issues, it added.