ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's parliament vehemently condemned the desecration of the holy Qur'an on Thursday during a joint session, urging the international community to take steps to promote interfaith harmony with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif calling on the Swedish government to clear its stance regarding the matter.
Muslim countries have reacted angrily to an act by an Iraqi Christian immigrant in Sweden who burnt a copy of the Qur'an outside a mosque in Stockholm last week. Pakistan, Turkiye, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, and the European Union (EU) have condemned the incident in strong words.
“This house strongly condemns the act of desecration of the Holy Qur'an in Sweden,” reads a resolution approved unanimously by the parliament during its joint sitting. “This house believes in respecting all religions, beliefs, and their holy books.”
Parliamentarians from both the treasury and opposition benches expressed deep concern over the repeated incidents of the Holy Qur'an's desecration in Sweden, reiterating that the sentiments of the whole Muslim world were hurt by them.
The parliament urged Swedish authorities to take “appropriate steps” against the perpetrator including, but not limited to, legal action and avoid the recurrence of such incidents.
“This house urges that incidents of Islamophobia be dealt with the same seriousness as hate against other religions,” the resolution stated. It called on international organizations and states to criminalize the desecration of holy symbols of religions including holy books, personalities, places of worship, and their followers.
“This house acknowledges and appreciates the convening of the OIC session for providing a platform to compile recommendations and devise a collective future strategy to counter Islamophobia,” it said.
Addressing the parliament, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that while the Swedish government condemned the incident, it should "clear its position" as to why the protest was allowed to take place.
“We are not against freedom of speech, but no one has the right to do propaganda against Muslims,” he said.
Sharif reminded the parliament that Muslims respected all religions and did not insult the sentiments of the followers of other faiths. “Never has anyone heard or seen the Bible being desecrated or burnt here,” he said. “We respect all religions so that no one points a finger at our religion or the holy book.”
The Pakistani premier said Muslims around the world would not tolerate such incidents taking place again, which he said were a "conspiracy to create rifts between Christians and Muslims."
“This is beyond tolerance,” he exclaimed.
The premier said that he was trying to contact the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to request him to convene an urgent session where Muslim leaders are invited and a condemnatory resolution against the incident is adopted.
“I will also ask him to warn such governments and individuals against redoing such acts aimed at fanning hatred,” he added.
Sharif's government has called for countrywide, peaceful protests on Friday to protest the desecration of the holy Qur'an.
Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz condemned the incident, saying that the whole nation was united on the matter and urged the government to raise its voice at international forums against the despicable act.
“Every Pakistani will take part in peaceful protests against the desecration of the holy Qur'an on Friday,” he said.
