Thousands protest in Pakistan against desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan/ ISTANBUL (AA): Thousands of people marched across Pakistan on Friday against the recent desecration of a copy of the Quran in Sweden. The South Asian Muslim nation observed “Youm-e-Taqaddus-e-Quran”, or ‘Quran Sanctity Day.’
Demonstrations and rallies were organized in major cities, including Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawar, against the desecration of the Quran by a 37-year-old fanatical hatemonger of Iraqi origin, in front of a Stockholm mosque on June 28. The reprehensible act was carried out under protection from Swedish police.
Protesters declared that the desecration of the Quran is absolutely unacceptable and will never be tolerated by Muslims who hold the Sacred Book dearly in their hearts as the Divine Word. With their sentiments afire, protesters chanted slogans against the Swedish government, and called for the boycott of products from the Nordic country.
The act, deliberately timed to coincide with the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, has sparked condemnation from several countries. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called for collective measures to prevent such acts.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had urged the Pakistani nation for peaceful demonstrations to register their protest.
“When it comes to the [matter of] the Quran, the entire nation is united. The entire Muslim ummah is disturbed by the incident in Sweden,” Sharif said on Twitter. Sharif also called on Sweden to clarify its stand on such incidents. “Quran is in our hearts. The Quran is not only a recitation for us but a guideline for living,” he added.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the sacrilegious act was “another example of the rising Islamophobic mindset that seeks to dehumanize and denigrate our faith.”
“It is an act of blatant provocation to try to inflame sentiments and undermine Islam as a religion of peace, tolerance, and acceptance,” he tweeted, adding that Pakistan will raise this issue at the UN Human Rights Council next week.
Sirajul Haq, the chief of mainstream religious party Jamaat-e-Islami, said such incidents threaten world peace. In a statement, he said the West cannot ignore the power and resources of the Islamic world, and called for effective international legislation to prevent blasphemy and desecration of the Quran.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch had raised the issue with the Swedish charge d’affaires in Islamabad on Thursday.
The country’s parliament also adopted a unanimous resolution urging Sweden to take “appropriate steps” against the perpetrators involved in the desecration. This implies effective legislation to criminalize and punish such actions.
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