ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari urged the United Nations to devise a strategy to deal with “Islamophobia” during a wide-ranging phone call with Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday.
The foreign minister brought up the issue with the top UN official after anti-Islam demonstrations in Sweden and Denmark wherein people set copies of the Holy Qur’an on fire.
The desecration of the scripture enraged Muslims across the world and prompted the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) call for prevention and prosecution of such acts of religious hatred.
“Had the pleasure of speaking with UNSG @antonioguterres on telephone today,” Bhutto-Zardari said in a Twitter post, saying he took up various issues including floods and the revival of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
“Also addressed recurring reprehensible and condemnable acts of desecration of the Holy Qur’an,” he continued. “Urged collective UN action to formulate comprehensive strategy for tackling Islamophobia.”
The foreign minister also spoke to the OIC secretary general, Hissein Brahim Taha, over the phone earlier this week to condemn the anti-Islam protests in European states.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the latest incidents of Qur’an burning, saying they had left Muslims around the world “deeply anguished” and those in Pakistan in “deep pain and distress.”
“The recurring pattern of these abominable and Satanic incidents has a sinister design: to hurt the inter-faith relations, damage peace and harmony and promote religious hatred and Islamophobia,” he maintained in one of his Twitter posts.
