ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday condemned the desecration of the Holy Qur’an outside the Iraqi embassy in Sweden, the second such incident in less than a month, promising to formulate a joint strategy with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) against such happenings in the future.
Anti-Islam protesters, one of whom is Iraqi immigrant Salwan Momika who burned the Qur’an outside a Stockholm mosque on June 28, had applied for and received permission from Swedish police to burn the holy book outside the Iraqi embassy on Thursday. The Iraqi man stomped on the holy book in a two-man rally outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm in the latest incident.
The government of Iraq has already expelled the ambassador of Sweden, saying it took the decision since the European country was repeatedly authorizing Qur’an burning at public demonstrations.
In his reaction to the development, PM Sharif said the desecration of holy books, persons and rituals did not fall under the freedom of expression, but it rather “constant torture of the world.”
“From the platform of OIC, we will create a common strategy to remedy this evil,” Sharif said in a statement. “The OIC is to play a historic role in expressing the sentiments of the Muslim world and stopping this evil.”
He vowed to campaign for the reversal of the Swedish authorities’ decision to allow the desecration of the Torah, the Bible and the Holy Qur’an.
“The sequence and continuity of the events is evidence that this is not an expression, but part of a political and satanic agenda,” Sharif said. “All Muslims and Christians will have to jointly put an end to this conspiracy.”
The Pakistani foreign office said late Thursday the South Asian country planned to express its concerns to the Swedish authorities following the incident in Stockholm, describing it as “yet another Islamophobic act” carried out under the police protection in the Scandinavian state.
“Permission to carry out premeditated and provocative acts of religious hatred cannot be justified under the guise of freedom of expression, opinion and protest,” it said.
“We expect the Swedish authorities to take all measures necessary to stop such acts of hatred and incitement.”
The foreign office maintained the international law categorically obliged states to prevent and prohibit deliberate incitement to hatred, discrimination and violence on the basis of religion or belief.
“The disturbing recurrence of such Islamophobic incidents, which have hurt the sentiments of over two billion Muslims worldwide, is both legally and morally reprehensible,” it added.
The foreign office reiterated Pakistan’s call to the international community to “condemn Islamophobic acts, isolate those who stoke religious hatred, build deterrence and promote mutual respect, tolerance and harmony among religions, faiths and cultures.”
