ISLAMABAD: Pakistan summoned the ambassador of Norway on Saturday to its foreign office to convey ‘deep concern’ over an incident in an anti-Islam rally in Kristiansand, where an extremist right-wing group attempted to burn the Qur’an.

During the meeting, it was reiterated that such actions did not enter the ambit of free speech, and hurt the sentiments of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims, a press statement said, while urging Norwegian authorities to prevent such incidents in the future.

“We respect all the religions and expect others to respect ours,” Dr. Mohammad Faisal, Foreign Office spokesperson had earlier said.

His comments were in response to a video that has gone viral since first being released on November 16 when the rally took place.

It shows a Muslim man – identified by social media users as Ilyas Omer – tackling the leader of the ‘Stop Islamization of Norway (SIAN)’ rally, Lars Thorsen, as he tried to burn a copy of the Qur’an despite warnings from local police officials.

Pakistan’s social media users were all praise for Ilyas on Friday with #ilyas_Hero_of_Muslim_Ummah, #Norway, #Defender_of_Qur’an, #TheGloriousQur’an and Muslims trending on Twitter.

“As much as the incident of desecration of Holy Qur’an in Norway is condemned, the less it is. Extremists are malady to every society and it is a global responsibility to curb this malaise. Norwegian police should take action against these extremist groups instead of taking action against Muslims,” Fawad Chaudhary, Federal Minister for Science and Technology said in a tweet on Saturday.

DG ISPR, Maj General Asif Ghafoor, the military’s media wing, tweeted from his personal account on Friday: “Salute to brave #Ilyas for displaying courage to stop an absolutely deplorable action. Such islamophobia based provocations only promote hatred & extremism. All religions are and must stay respectable.”

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Union Norway (PUN), an important social and cultural organization, condemned the incident, too, with PUN Chairman Chaudhry Qamar Iqbal saying that with his act, Thorsen had “hurt the sentiments of Muslims.”

“The people of Norway and its Muslims were also hurt over the fact that the desecration took place in broad daylight and the police did nothing to stop it,” he said, before expressing disappointment with the police for springing into action only after “Ilyas” intervened.