ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday called on governments and faith leaders worldwide to put an end to the “abhorrent practices” of desecrating the holy Qur’an, a day after protesters set fire to a copy of the holy book outside the Iraqi embassy in Copenhagen.
In the latest incident, two protesters stomped on a copy of the holy Qur’an outside the Iraqi embassy in Copenhagen on Monday and set it alight in a tin foil tray next to the Iraqi flag. Iraq condemned the act and said that the Danish staff at the embassy in Baghdad had left the country following protests there, while Copenhagen said it had “not withdrawn from Iraq.”
Earlier this month, the United Nations Human Rights Council approved a Pakistan-backed resolution on religious hatred in the wake of the burning of a copy of the holy Qur’an in Sweden, prompting concern by Western states who say it challenges long-held practices in rights protection.
“I call upon the governments and faith leaders in particular to put an end to such abhorrent practices,” PM Sharif wrote on Twitter. “Let us not allow a handful of misguided and evil people to hurt the emotions of billions of people.”
Sharif said the latest incident in Copenhagen has 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 added.
Separately, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari spoke to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General, Hissein Brahim Taha over the phone on Monday to condemn the recent burnings of the Qur’an in Sweden and other European countries.
Bhutto-Zardari commended the OIC for holding an Emergency Ministerial Meeting over the issue. Taha appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to combat and counter Islamophobia, a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said.
“The Foreign Minister assured the Secretary-General that Pakistan stood ready to actively participate in all OIC initiatives to arrest the reprehensible tide of Islamophobia,” the statement read.
Demonstrations have raged across the Muslim world, particularly Iran and Iraq, after Denmark and Sweden allowed the burning of the Qur’an under rules protecting free speech. Enraged protesters in Iraq set the Swedish embassy in Baghdad alight on Thursday.
