Explained: Emmanuel Macron’s dispute with Pakistan over school IDs for Muslim children

France demands apology for ‘blatant lies’ following Pakistani minister’s ‘Nazi’ allegations

Emmanuel Macron speaks during a videoconference
(Image credit: Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)

A Pakistani minister has withdrawn comments comparing Emmanuel Macron’s treatment of Muslims to the Nazis persecution of Jews during the Second World War, following outrage from Paris.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had demanded the immediate deletion of the tweeted claims by Islamad’s Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari about new rules requiring children at French schools to have ID numbers.

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Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs. 

Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.