ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office on Saturday condemned authorities in Sweden for allowing a man to publicly desecrate the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm before he announced to call off his plan and said it never wanted to burn a holy book.
Pakistan presented a resolution on religious hatred in the United Nations Human Rights Council on behalf of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation earlier this month after a Qur’an burning incident in Sweden. The resolution was opposed by several Western powers, though it was approved after a voting process on Wednesday.
Pakistan used the resolution to ask the UN rights chief to publish a report on religious hatred and urged states to review their laws to prevent and prosecute incidents wherein religious scriptures and symbols were desecrated.
Pakistan’s foreign office issued its latest statement after the Swedish police allowed a protestor to go ahead who said he wanted to burn the Torah and the Bible in response to what had happened to the Qur’an.
“Pakistan condemns the permission for public desecration of the Torah and Bible in Sweden,” the foreign office said in a brief statement circulated in Islamabad.
“Offensive acts of religious hatred cannot be condoned in the guise of freedom of expression and opinion.” it added. “As a religion of peace, Islam calls for respect for all religions, sacred personalities and holy scriptures.”
The foreign office said Pakistan had always stressed the need to advance mutual respect, harmony and peaceful coexistence among religion in keeping with the “Islamic ethos.”
“We call on the international community to condemn, with one voice, all such abhorrent acts of religious hatred, which hurt the sentiments of its followers and constitute deliberate incitement,” it continued.
Swedish police’s decision to allow another anti-religious protest led to condemnation by Israeli officials and Jewish organizations.
“I unequivocally condemn the permission granted in Sweden to burn holy books,” Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said in a statement.
“I condemned the burning of the Qur’an, sacred to Muslims world over, and I am now heartbroken that the same fate awaits a Jewish Bible, the eternal book of the Jewish people,” he added.
Meanwhile, the man who was issued the permit for the protest by Stockholm police said he never intended to burn the books since such an action would be against the teaching to the Holy Qur’an.
“This is a response to the people who burn the Qur’an,” AFP quoted the man whom it identified as Ahmad A. “I want to show that freedom of expression has limits that must be taken into account.”
“I want to show that we have to respect each other, we live in the same society,” he added. “If I burn the Torah, another the Bible, another the Qur’an, there will be war here. What I wanted to show is that it’s not right to do it.”
